Women’s Cup champs! Kansas City Current defeats Atletico de Madrid to win 1st trophy

The Kansas City Current added some hardware to the trophy cabinet.

For the very first time.

A 1-0 victory over Atletico de Madrid on Saturday night gave the Current its first taste of tournament glory, winning The Women’s Cup 2024 at CPKC Stadium.

“Winning is a good feeling,” Current captain Lo LaBonta said after the match. “I’m very proud of this team. We battled. We usually get a lot of goals. Today, it was just one, and sometimes that’s what it’s gonna be. So I’m proud of this team.”

The Current scored early, a 13th-minute strike from Debinha, and that was enough for the first cup final victory in the club’s current iteration.

The Current won the ball back from Atletico Madrid while pressing high in the attacking third. Four consecutive one-touch passes between Vanessa DiBernardo, Debinha and Temwa Chawinga ended with Debinha wide open at the back post for a composed finish past goalkeeper Lola Gallardo.

“It was a great goal,” Andonovski said, adding that he was proud of the way his team fought to create against Atletico Madrid’s defensive tactics.

“It takes a lot of creativity and precision ... a very methodical approach to break down the block that (Atletico) put in front of the goal,” Andonovski added.

The Current had plenty of chances throughout the rest of the match, but couldn’t add any breathing room. The home club, however, didn’t need it.

KC was stout defensively, as just one shot tested goalkeeper AD Franch. The Current allowed only three shots the whole match.

Even so, the victory wasn’t secured until the final moments.

During stoppage time, the Current sustained a barrage of corner kicks from Atletico Madrid. The club didn’t concede, which was especially notable because it had conceded the most set-piece goals of any team in this year’s NWSL regular season.

“We battled hard,” LaBonta said. “(Andonovski) was proud of us that we had like three, four corners on us in the last minute and we were able to come out of it still with the win.”

“In the moment, I hated it,” Andonovski joked. “But after the game I loved it because it was a learning opportunity for us. A moment we want to grow from, and I think we executed very well.”

After clearing the full-time whistle, Debinha received her player of the match trophy, and the team went on to lift the cup trophy on home turf.

While this marks the first trophy in club history, there’s a possibility it’s just the first trophy of 2024. Eight regular-season matches remain for the Current. On October 25, the team heads down to San Antonio to face Gotham FC for the Summer Cup Final.

After that? In November, there’s yet another opportunity to lift a trophy on home turf as CPKC Stadium hosts the 2024 NWSL Championship game .

So while Andonovski and his squad will enjoy this win and celebration of a first-ever trophy, the focus turns back to the task at hand quickly.

“Every win is enjoyable, and we want to enjoy that,” Andonovski said. “But also, once we’re done, we have to start focusing on the next game.”

INAC Kobe Lionessa took third place in The Women’s Cup, defeating Mamelodi Sundowns FC 2-0 earlier in the evening.

The Current returns to NWSL action next Sunday; the club travels to take on the Washington Spirit at 11 a.m.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry .danielkc@gmail.com .