KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Metropolis Present ushered within the grand opening of CPKC Stadium, the primary stadium constructed particularly for a Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League (NWSL) staff, in model on Saturday, defeating the Portland Thorns 5-4 in a match that tied a league file for many complete objectives.
“I feel this sport was sensible, to have each groups rating, as a result of I do not suppose one individual that was right here on this stadium shouldn’t be going to need to be again for the following sport,” Lo’eau LaBonta, the Present’s captain, mentioned. “They’ll inform extra folks. All people’s going to need to come now as a result of that was a present.”
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, NWSL extra (U.S.)
The match marked the beginning of a brand new period for people, together with the return of former U.S. girls’s nationwide staff head coach Vlatko Andonovski to the NWSL and his adopted dwelling, in addition to the staff and the league.
CPKC Stadium value over $120 million and was largely privately funded. The Kansas Metropolis Present’s house owners additionally constructed an $18 million coaching middle that opened in 2022 and might be expanded additional within the close to future. A sellout crowd of 11,500 followers to open the stadium on Saturday punctuated the staff’s unprecedented spending on amenities for a girls’s soccer staff.
“It is a lot greater than I anticipated,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman informed ESPN at halftime. “We have been saying in the event you construct it they’ll come, internally, after which coming right here and truly seeing what it means to really spend money on brick and mortar bodily infrastructure, it is a game-changer.
“They’ve modified the footprint of this metropolis eternally, and I feel it should have an excellent larger affect than anybody can think about.”
Kansas Metropolis midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo opened the scoring 22 minutes into the match, igniting the group and drawing fist pumps from Present co-owners Angie and Chris Lengthy, and leaping celebrations from Brittany Mahomes and Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, additionally co-owners of the Present.
The Present latched onto the momentum within the constructing to attain two extra occasions within the following 12 minutes. Kansas Metropolis constructed a 5-1 lead by the 68th minute, when 16-year-old Alex Pfeiffer turned the youngest objective scorer in NWSL regular-season historical past.
What regarded like an insurance coverage objective from Pfeiffer ended up being the sport winner because the Thorns stormed again to make the sport fascinating behind braces from forwards Sophia Smith and Janine Beckie.
Andonovski made his title within the NWSL for his groups’ sound defensive buildings. He mentioned he was “terrified” to concede 4 objectives on Saturday, however he was comfortable together with his staff’s skill to grind out an unsightly sport and choose up three factors on a historic day.
“If we will describe this staff, it must be like we’re describing Kansas Metropolis,” Andonovski mentioned. “It must be hardworking, resilient, with aptitude, grit, actually in folks’s faces. We confirmed it at the moment. We weren’t good in moments there. We did not win as a result of we have been so good or so a lot better than Portland; we received as a result of we have been Kansas Metropolis.”
The stadium is uniquely Kansas Metropolis, too, from its location on the southern financial institution of the Missouri River, to the staff’s distinctive teal colour that runs all through the ability in every part from the seating to the lavatory hand cleaning soap.
Saturday was a very long time coming for gamers and coaches who have been round for the NWSL’s frugal early years. DiBernardo is a 10-year veteran of the league who began her skilled profession taking part in at a 3,000-seat faculty soccer stadium within the Chicago suburbs.
“[From] the place we began with this league and the place we are actually it simply exhibits the expansion and the way a lot the gamers have put in and actually pushed the usual and the way a lot we have needed to actually battle for ourselves,” DiBernardo mentioned. “And it is simply the beginning. We’ve grown in our voice and [we’re] simply pushing the restrict, and I feel at the moment was only a particular first expertise and it is a day that we can’t overlook.”
Andonovski was the primary coach of the town’s unique NWSL staff, FC Kansas Metropolis, which launched within the league’s inaugural season in 2013 and folded in late 2017. That staff performed in a highschool soccer stadium exterior of the town.
He returned to the league and Kansas Metropolis after final 12 months’s World Cup disappointment as head coach of the US as a result of he was bought on the imaginative and prescient of the Longs to make the Present the very best staff on this planet.
“That is one thing that may change the world of girls’s soccer,” Andonovski mentioned. “That is the start of change.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Metropolis Present ushered within the grand opening of CPKC Stadium, the primary stadium constructed particularly for a Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League (NWSL) staff, in model on Saturday, defeating the Portland Thorns 5-4 in a match that tied a league file for many complete objectives.
“I feel this sport was sensible, to have each groups rating, as a result of I do not suppose one individual that was right here on this stadium shouldn’t be going to need to be again for the following sport,” Lo’eau LaBonta, the Present’s captain, mentioned. “They’ll inform extra folks. All people’s going to need to come now as a result of that was a present.”
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, NWSL extra (U.S.)
The match marked the beginning of a brand new period for people, together with the return of former U.S. girls’s nationwide staff head coach Vlatko Andonovski to the NWSL and his adopted dwelling, in addition to the staff and the league.
CPKC Stadium value over $120 million and was largely privately funded. The Kansas Metropolis Present’s house owners additionally constructed an $18 million coaching middle that opened in 2022 and might be expanded additional within the close to future. A sellout crowd of 11,500 followers to open the stadium on Saturday punctuated the staff’s unprecedented spending on amenities for a girls’s soccer staff.
“It is a lot greater than I anticipated,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman informed ESPN at halftime. “We have been saying in the event you construct it they’ll come, internally, after which coming right here and truly seeing what it means to really spend money on brick and mortar bodily infrastructure, it is a game-changer.
“They’ve modified the footprint of this metropolis eternally, and I feel it should have an excellent larger affect than anybody can think about.”
Kansas Metropolis midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo opened the scoring 22 minutes into the match, igniting the group and drawing fist pumps from Present co-owners Angie and Chris Lengthy, and leaping celebrations from Brittany Mahomes and Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, additionally co-owners of the Present.
The Present latched onto the momentum within the constructing to attain two extra occasions within the following 12 minutes. Kansas Metropolis constructed a 5-1 lead by the 68th minute, when 16-year-old Alex Pfeiffer turned the youngest objective scorer in NWSL regular-season historical past.
What regarded like an insurance coverage objective from Pfeiffer ended up being the sport winner because the Thorns stormed again to make the sport fascinating behind braces from forwards Sophia Smith and Janine Beckie.
Andonovski made his title within the NWSL for his groups’ sound defensive buildings. He mentioned he was “terrified” to concede 4 objectives on Saturday, however he was comfortable together with his staff’s skill to grind out an unsightly sport and choose up three factors on a historic day.
“If we will describe this staff, it must be like we’re describing Kansas Metropolis,” Andonovski mentioned. “It must be hardworking, resilient, with aptitude, grit, actually in folks’s faces. We confirmed it at the moment. We weren’t good in moments there. We did not win as a result of we have been so good or so a lot better than Portland; we received as a result of we have been Kansas Metropolis.”
The stadium is uniquely Kansas Metropolis, too, from its location on the southern financial institution of the Missouri River, to the staff’s distinctive teal colour that runs all through the ability in every part from the seating to the lavatory hand cleaning soap.
Saturday was a very long time coming for gamers and coaches who have been round for the NWSL’s frugal early years. DiBernardo is a 10-year veteran of the league who began her skilled profession taking part in at a 3,000-seat faculty soccer stadium within the Chicago suburbs.
“[From] the place we began with this league and the place we are actually it simply exhibits the expansion and the way a lot the gamers have put in and actually pushed the usual and the way a lot we have needed to actually battle for ourselves,” DiBernardo mentioned. “And it is simply the beginning. We’ve grown in our voice and [we’re] simply pushing the restrict, and I feel at the moment was only a particular first expertise and it is a day that we can’t overlook.”
Andonovski was the primary coach of the town’s unique NWSL staff, FC Kansas Metropolis, which launched within the league’s inaugural season in 2013 and folded in late 2017. That staff performed in a highschool soccer stadium exterior of the town.
He returned to the league and Kansas Metropolis after final 12 months’s World Cup disappointment as head coach of the US as a result of he was bought on the imaginative and prescient of the Longs to make the Present the very best staff on this planet.
“That is one thing that may change the world of girls’s soccer,” Andonovski mentioned. “That is the start of change.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Metropolis Present ushered within the grand opening of CPKC Stadium, the primary stadium constructed particularly for a Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League (NWSL) staff, in model on Saturday, defeating the Portland Thorns 5-4 in a match that tied a league file for many complete objectives.
“I feel this sport was sensible, to have each groups rating, as a result of I do not suppose one individual that was right here on this stadium shouldn’t be going to need to be again for the following sport,” Lo’eau LaBonta, the Present’s captain, mentioned. “They’ll inform extra folks. All people’s going to need to come now as a result of that was a present.”
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, NWSL extra (U.S.)
The match marked the beginning of a brand new period for people, together with the return of former U.S. girls’s nationwide staff head coach Vlatko Andonovski to the NWSL and his adopted dwelling, in addition to the staff and the league.
CPKC Stadium value over $120 million and was largely privately funded. The Kansas Metropolis Present’s house owners additionally constructed an $18 million coaching middle that opened in 2022 and might be expanded additional within the close to future. A sellout crowd of 11,500 followers to open the stadium on Saturday punctuated the staff’s unprecedented spending on amenities for a girls’s soccer staff.
“It is a lot greater than I anticipated,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman informed ESPN at halftime. “We have been saying in the event you construct it they’ll come, internally, after which coming right here and truly seeing what it means to really spend money on brick and mortar bodily infrastructure, it is a game-changer.
“They’ve modified the footprint of this metropolis eternally, and I feel it should have an excellent larger affect than anybody can think about.”
Kansas Metropolis midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo opened the scoring 22 minutes into the match, igniting the group and drawing fist pumps from Present co-owners Angie and Chris Lengthy, and leaping celebrations from Brittany Mahomes and Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, additionally co-owners of the Present.
The Present latched onto the momentum within the constructing to attain two extra occasions within the following 12 minutes. Kansas Metropolis constructed a 5-1 lead by the 68th minute, when 16-year-old Alex Pfeiffer turned the youngest objective scorer in NWSL regular-season historical past.
What regarded like an insurance coverage objective from Pfeiffer ended up being the sport winner because the Thorns stormed again to make the sport fascinating behind braces from forwards Sophia Smith and Janine Beckie.
Andonovski made his title within the NWSL for his groups’ sound defensive buildings. He mentioned he was “terrified” to concede 4 objectives on Saturday, however he was comfortable together with his staff’s skill to grind out an unsightly sport and choose up three factors on a historic day.
“If we will describe this staff, it must be like we’re describing Kansas Metropolis,” Andonovski mentioned. “It must be hardworking, resilient, with aptitude, grit, actually in folks’s faces. We confirmed it at the moment. We weren’t good in moments there. We did not win as a result of we have been so good or so a lot better than Portland; we received as a result of we have been Kansas Metropolis.”
The stadium is uniquely Kansas Metropolis, too, from its location on the southern financial institution of the Missouri River, to the staff’s distinctive teal colour that runs all through the ability in every part from the seating to the lavatory hand cleaning soap.
Saturday was a very long time coming for gamers and coaches who have been round for the NWSL’s frugal early years. DiBernardo is a 10-year veteran of the league who began her skilled profession taking part in at a 3,000-seat faculty soccer stadium within the Chicago suburbs.
“[From] the place we began with this league and the place we are actually it simply exhibits the expansion and the way a lot the gamers have put in and actually pushed the usual and the way a lot we have needed to actually battle for ourselves,” DiBernardo mentioned. “And it is simply the beginning. We’ve grown in our voice and [we’re] simply pushing the restrict, and I feel at the moment was only a particular first expertise and it is a day that we can’t overlook.”
Andonovski was the primary coach of the town’s unique NWSL staff, FC Kansas Metropolis, which launched within the league’s inaugural season in 2013 and folded in late 2017. That staff performed in a highschool soccer stadium exterior of the town.
He returned to the league and Kansas Metropolis after final 12 months’s World Cup disappointment as head coach of the US as a result of he was bought on the imaginative and prescient of the Longs to make the Present the very best staff on this planet.
“That is one thing that may change the world of girls’s soccer,” Andonovski mentioned. “That is the start of change.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Metropolis Present ushered within the grand opening of CPKC Stadium, the primary stadium constructed particularly for a Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League (NWSL) staff, in model on Saturday, defeating the Portland Thorns 5-4 in a match that tied a league file for many complete objectives.
“I feel this sport was sensible, to have each groups rating, as a result of I do not suppose one individual that was right here on this stadium shouldn’t be going to need to be again for the following sport,” Lo’eau LaBonta, the Present’s captain, mentioned. “They’ll inform extra folks. All people’s going to need to come now as a result of that was a present.”
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, NWSL extra (U.S.)
The match marked the beginning of a brand new period for people, together with the return of former U.S. girls’s nationwide staff head coach Vlatko Andonovski to the NWSL and his adopted dwelling, in addition to the staff and the league.
CPKC Stadium value over $120 million and was largely privately funded. The Kansas Metropolis Present’s house owners additionally constructed an $18 million coaching middle that opened in 2022 and might be expanded additional within the close to future. A sellout crowd of 11,500 followers to open the stadium on Saturday punctuated the staff’s unprecedented spending on amenities for a girls’s soccer staff.
“It is a lot greater than I anticipated,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman informed ESPN at halftime. “We have been saying in the event you construct it they’ll come, internally, after which coming right here and truly seeing what it means to really spend money on brick and mortar bodily infrastructure, it is a game-changer.
“They’ve modified the footprint of this metropolis eternally, and I feel it should have an excellent larger affect than anybody can think about.”
Kansas Metropolis midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo opened the scoring 22 minutes into the match, igniting the group and drawing fist pumps from Present co-owners Angie and Chris Lengthy, and leaping celebrations from Brittany Mahomes and Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, additionally co-owners of the Present.
The Present latched onto the momentum within the constructing to attain two extra occasions within the following 12 minutes. Kansas Metropolis constructed a 5-1 lead by the 68th minute, when 16-year-old Alex Pfeiffer turned the youngest objective scorer in NWSL regular-season historical past.
What regarded like an insurance coverage objective from Pfeiffer ended up being the sport winner because the Thorns stormed again to make the sport fascinating behind braces from forwards Sophia Smith and Janine Beckie.
Andonovski made his title within the NWSL for his groups’ sound defensive buildings. He mentioned he was “terrified” to concede 4 objectives on Saturday, however he was comfortable together with his staff’s skill to grind out an unsightly sport and choose up three factors on a historic day.
“If we will describe this staff, it must be like we’re describing Kansas Metropolis,” Andonovski mentioned. “It must be hardworking, resilient, with aptitude, grit, actually in folks’s faces. We confirmed it at the moment. We weren’t good in moments there. We did not win as a result of we have been so good or so a lot better than Portland; we received as a result of we have been Kansas Metropolis.”
The stadium is uniquely Kansas Metropolis, too, from its location on the southern financial institution of the Missouri River, to the staff’s distinctive teal colour that runs all through the ability in every part from the seating to the lavatory hand cleaning soap.
Saturday was a very long time coming for gamers and coaches who have been round for the NWSL’s frugal early years. DiBernardo is a 10-year veteran of the league who began her skilled profession taking part in at a 3,000-seat faculty soccer stadium within the Chicago suburbs.
“[From] the place we began with this league and the place we are actually it simply exhibits the expansion and the way a lot the gamers have put in and actually pushed the usual and the way a lot we have needed to actually battle for ourselves,” DiBernardo mentioned. “And it is simply the beginning. We’ve grown in our voice and [we’re] simply pushing the restrict, and I feel at the moment was only a particular first expertise and it is a day that we can’t overlook.”
Andonovski was the primary coach of the town’s unique NWSL staff, FC Kansas Metropolis, which launched within the league’s inaugural season in 2013 and folded in late 2017. That staff performed in a highschool soccer stadium exterior of the town.
He returned to the league and Kansas Metropolis after final 12 months’s World Cup disappointment as head coach of the US as a result of he was bought on the imaginative and prescient of the Longs to make the Present the very best staff on this planet.
“That is one thing that may change the world of girls’s soccer,” Andonovski mentioned. “That is the start of change.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Metropolis Present ushered within the grand opening of CPKC Stadium, the primary stadium constructed particularly for a Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League (NWSL) staff, in model on Saturday, defeating the Portland Thorns 5-4 in a match that tied a league file for many complete objectives.
“I feel this sport was sensible, to have each groups rating, as a result of I do not suppose one individual that was right here on this stadium shouldn’t be going to need to be again for the following sport,” Lo’eau LaBonta, the Present’s captain, mentioned. “They’ll inform extra folks. All people’s going to need to come now as a result of that was a present.”
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, NWSL extra (U.S.)
The match marked the beginning of a brand new period for people, together with the return of former U.S. girls’s nationwide staff head coach Vlatko Andonovski to the NWSL and his adopted dwelling, in addition to the staff and the league.
CPKC Stadium value over $120 million and was largely privately funded. The Kansas Metropolis Present’s house owners additionally constructed an $18 million coaching middle that opened in 2022 and might be expanded additional within the close to future. A sellout crowd of 11,500 followers to open the stadium on Saturday punctuated the staff’s unprecedented spending on amenities for a girls’s soccer staff.
“It is a lot greater than I anticipated,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman informed ESPN at halftime. “We have been saying in the event you construct it they’ll come, internally, after which coming right here and truly seeing what it means to really spend money on brick and mortar bodily infrastructure, it is a game-changer.
“They’ve modified the footprint of this metropolis eternally, and I feel it should have an excellent larger affect than anybody can think about.”
Kansas Metropolis midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo opened the scoring 22 minutes into the match, igniting the group and drawing fist pumps from Present co-owners Angie and Chris Lengthy, and leaping celebrations from Brittany Mahomes and Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, additionally co-owners of the Present.
The Present latched onto the momentum within the constructing to attain two extra occasions within the following 12 minutes. Kansas Metropolis constructed a 5-1 lead by the 68th minute, when 16-year-old Alex Pfeiffer turned the youngest objective scorer in NWSL regular-season historical past.
What regarded like an insurance coverage objective from Pfeiffer ended up being the sport winner because the Thorns stormed again to make the sport fascinating behind braces from forwards Sophia Smith and Janine Beckie.
Andonovski made his title within the NWSL for his groups’ sound defensive buildings. He mentioned he was “terrified” to concede 4 objectives on Saturday, however he was comfortable together with his staff’s skill to grind out an unsightly sport and choose up three factors on a historic day.
“If we will describe this staff, it must be like we’re describing Kansas Metropolis,” Andonovski mentioned. “It must be hardworking, resilient, with aptitude, grit, actually in folks’s faces. We confirmed it at the moment. We weren’t good in moments there. We did not win as a result of we have been so good or so a lot better than Portland; we received as a result of we have been Kansas Metropolis.”
The stadium is uniquely Kansas Metropolis, too, from its location on the southern financial institution of the Missouri River, to the staff’s distinctive teal colour that runs all through the ability in every part from the seating to the lavatory hand cleaning soap.
Saturday was a very long time coming for gamers and coaches who have been round for the NWSL’s frugal early years. DiBernardo is a 10-year veteran of the league who began her skilled profession taking part in at a 3,000-seat faculty soccer stadium within the Chicago suburbs.
“[From] the place we began with this league and the place we are actually it simply exhibits the expansion and the way a lot the gamers have put in and actually pushed the usual and the way a lot we have needed to actually battle for ourselves,” DiBernardo mentioned. “And it is simply the beginning. We’ve grown in our voice and [we’re] simply pushing the restrict, and I feel at the moment was only a particular first expertise and it is a day that we can’t overlook.”
Andonovski was the primary coach of the town’s unique NWSL staff, FC Kansas Metropolis, which launched within the league’s inaugural season in 2013 and folded in late 2017. That staff performed in a highschool soccer stadium exterior of the town.
He returned to the league and Kansas Metropolis after final 12 months’s World Cup disappointment as head coach of the US as a result of he was bought on the imaginative and prescient of the Longs to make the Present the very best staff on this planet.
“That is one thing that may change the world of girls’s soccer,” Andonovski mentioned. “That is the start of change.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Metropolis Present ushered within the grand opening of CPKC Stadium, the primary stadium constructed particularly for a Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League (NWSL) staff, in model on Saturday, defeating the Portland Thorns 5-4 in a match that tied a league file for many complete objectives.
“I feel this sport was sensible, to have each groups rating, as a result of I do not suppose one individual that was right here on this stadium shouldn’t be going to need to be again for the following sport,” Lo’eau LaBonta, the Present’s captain, mentioned. “They’ll inform extra folks. All people’s going to need to come now as a result of that was a present.”
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, NWSL extra (U.S.)
The match marked the beginning of a brand new period for people, together with the return of former U.S. girls’s nationwide staff head coach Vlatko Andonovski to the NWSL and his adopted dwelling, in addition to the staff and the league.
CPKC Stadium value over $120 million and was largely privately funded. The Kansas Metropolis Present’s house owners additionally constructed an $18 million coaching middle that opened in 2022 and might be expanded additional within the close to future. A sellout crowd of 11,500 followers to open the stadium on Saturday punctuated the staff’s unprecedented spending on amenities for a girls’s soccer staff.
“It is a lot greater than I anticipated,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman informed ESPN at halftime. “We have been saying in the event you construct it they’ll come, internally, after which coming right here and truly seeing what it means to really spend money on brick and mortar bodily infrastructure, it is a game-changer.
“They’ve modified the footprint of this metropolis eternally, and I feel it should have an excellent larger affect than anybody can think about.”
Kansas Metropolis midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo opened the scoring 22 minutes into the match, igniting the group and drawing fist pumps from Present co-owners Angie and Chris Lengthy, and leaping celebrations from Brittany Mahomes and Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, additionally co-owners of the Present.
The Present latched onto the momentum within the constructing to attain two extra occasions within the following 12 minutes. Kansas Metropolis constructed a 5-1 lead by the 68th minute, when 16-year-old Alex Pfeiffer turned the youngest objective scorer in NWSL regular-season historical past.
What regarded like an insurance coverage objective from Pfeiffer ended up being the sport winner because the Thorns stormed again to make the sport fascinating behind braces from forwards Sophia Smith and Janine Beckie.
Andonovski made his title within the NWSL for his groups’ sound defensive buildings. He mentioned he was “terrified” to concede 4 objectives on Saturday, however he was comfortable together with his staff’s skill to grind out an unsightly sport and choose up three factors on a historic day.
“If we will describe this staff, it must be like we’re describing Kansas Metropolis,” Andonovski mentioned. “It must be hardworking, resilient, with aptitude, grit, actually in folks’s faces. We confirmed it at the moment. We weren’t good in moments there. We did not win as a result of we have been so good or so a lot better than Portland; we received as a result of we have been Kansas Metropolis.”
The stadium is uniquely Kansas Metropolis, too, from its location on the southern financial institution of the Missouri River, to the staff’s distinctive teal colour that runs all through the ability in every part from the seating to the lavatory hand cleaning soap.
Saturday was a very long time coming for gamers and coaches who have been round for the NWSL’s frugal early years. DiBernardo is a 10-year veteran of the league who began her skilled profession taking part in at a 3,000-seat faculty soccer stadium within the Chicago suburbs.
“[From] the place we began with this league and the place we are actually it simply exhibits the expansion and the way a lot the gamers have put in and actually pushed the usual and the way a lot we have needed to actually battle for ourselves,” DiBernardo mentioned. “And it is simply the beginning. We’ve grown in our voice and [we’re] simply pushing the restrict, and I feel at the moment was only a particular first expertise and it is a day that we can’t overlook.”
Andonovski was the primary coach of the town’s unique NWSL staff, FC Kansas Metropolis, which launched within the league’s inaugural season in 2013 and folded in late 2017. That staff performed in a highschool soccer stadium exterior of the town.
He returned to the league and Kansas Metropolis after final 12 months’s World Cup disappointment as head coach of the US as a result of he was bought on the imaginative and prescient of the Longs to make the Present the very best staff on this planet.
“That is one thing that may change the world of girls’s soccer,” Andonovski mentioned. “That is the start of change.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Metropolis Present ushered within the grand opening of CPKC Stadium, the primary stadium constructed particularly for a Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League (NWSL) staff, in model on Saturday, defeating the Portland Thorns 5-4 in a match that tied a league file for many complete objectives.
“I feel this sport was sensible, to have each groups rating, as a result of I do not suppose one individual that was right here on this stadium shouldn’t be going to need to be again for the following sport,” Lo’eau LaBonta, the Present’s captain, mentioned. “They’ll inform extra folks. All people’s going to need to come now as a result of that was a present.”
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, NWSL extra (U.S.)
The match marked the beginning of a brand new period for people, together with the return of former U.S. girls’s nationwide staff head coach Vlatko Andonovski to the NWSL and his adopted dwelling, in addition to the staff and the league.
CPKC Stadium value over $120 million and was largely privately funded. The Kansas Metropolis Present’s house owners additionally constructed an $18 million coaching middle that opened in 2022 and might be expanded additional within the close to future. A sellout crowd of 11,500 followers to open the stadium on Saturday punctuated the staff’s unprecedented spending on amenities for a girls’s soccer staff.
“It is a lot greater than I anticipated,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman informed ESPN at halftime. “We have been saying in the event you construct it they’ll come, internally, after which coming right here and truly seeing what it means to really spend money on brick and mortar bodily infrastructure, it is a game-changer.
“They’ve modified the footprint of this metropolis eternally, and I feel it should have an excellent larger affect than anybody can think about.”
Kansas Metropolis midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo opened the scoring 22 minutes into the match, igniting the group and drawing fist pumps from Present co-owners Angie and Chris Lengthy, and leaping celebrations from Brittany Mahomes and Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, additionally co-owners of the Present.
The Present latched onto the momentum within the constructing to attain two extra occasions within the following 12 minutes. Kansas Metropolis constructed a 5-1 lead by the 68th minute, when 16-year-old Alex Pfeiffer turned the youngest objective scorer in NWSL regular-season historical past.
What regarded like an insurance coverage objective from Pfeiffer ended up being the sport winner because the Thorns stormed again to make the sport fascinating behind braces from forwards Sophia Smith and Janine Beckie.
Andonovski made his title within the NWSL for his groups’ sound defensive buildings. He mentioned he was “terrified” to concede 4 objectives on Saturday, however he was comfortable together with his staff’s skill to grind out an unsightly sport and choose up three factors on a historic day.
“If we will describe this staff, it must be like we’re describing Kansas Metropolis,” Andonovski mentioned. “It must be hardworking, resilient, with aptitude, grit, actually in folks’s faces. We confirmed it at the moment. We weren’t good in moments there. We did not win as a result of we have been so good or so a lot better than Portland; we received as a result of we have been Kansas Metropolis.”
The stadium is uniquely Kansas Metropolis, too, from its location on the southern financial institution of the Missouri River, to the staff’s distinctive teal colour that runs all through the ability in every part from the seating to the lavatory hand cleaning soap.
Saturday was a very long time coming for gamers and coaches who have been round for the NWSL’s frugal early years. DiBernardo is a 10-year veteran of the league who began her skilled profession taking part in at a 3,000-seat faculty soccer stadium within the Chicago suburbs.
“[From] the place we began with this league and the place we are actually it simply exhibits the expansion and the way a lot the gamers have put in and actually pushed the usual and the way a lot we have needed to actually battle for ourselves,” DiBernardo mentioned. “And it is simply the beginning. We’ve grown in our voice and [we’re] simply pushing the restrict, and I feel at the moment was only a particular first expertise and it is a day that we can’t overlook.”
Andonovski was the primary coach of the town’s unique NWSL staff, FC Kansas Metropolis, which launched within the league’s inaugural season in 2013 and folded in late 2017. That staff performed in a highschool soccer stadium exterior of the town.
He returned to the league and Kansas Metropolis after final 12 months’s World Cup disappointment as head coach of the US as a result of he was bought on the imaginative and prescient of the Longs to make the Present the very best staff on this planet.
“That is one thing that may change the world of girls’s soccer,” Andonovski mentioned. “That is the start of change.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Metropolis Present ushered within the grand opening of CPKC Stadium, the primary stadium constructed particularly for a Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League (NWSL) staff, in model on Saturday, defeating the Portland Thorns 5-4 in a match that tied a league file for many complete objectives.
“I feel this sport was sensible, to have each groups rating, as a result of I do not suppose one individual that was right here on this stadium shouldn’t be going to need to be again for the following sport,” Lo’eau LaBonta, the Present’s captain, mentioned. “They’ll inform extra folks. All people’s going to need to come now as a result of that was a present.”
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, NWSL extra (U.S.)
The match marked the beginning of a brand new period for people, together with the return of former U.S. girls’s nationwide staff head coach Vlatko Andonovski to the NWSL and his adopted dwelling, in addition to the staff and the league.
CPKC Stadium value over $120 million and was largely privately funded. The Kansas Metropolis Present’s house owners additionally constructed an $18 million coaching middle that opened in 2022 and might be expanded additional within the close to future. A sellout crowd of 11,500 followers to open the stadium on Saturday punctuated the staff’s unprecedented spending on amenities for a girls’s soccer staff.
“It is a lot greater than I anticipated,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman informed ESPN at halftime. “We have been saying in the event you construct it they’ll come, internally, after which coming right here and truly seeing what it means to really spend money on brick and mortar bodily infrastructure, it is a game-changer.
“They’ve modified the footprint of this metropolis eternally, and I feel it should have an excellent larger affect than anybody can think about.”
Kansas Metropolis midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo opened the scoring 22 minutes into the match, igniting the group and drawing fist pumps from Present co-owners Angie and Chris Lengthy, and leaping celebrations from Brittany Mahomes and Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, additionally co-owners of the Present.
The Present latched onto the momentum within the constructing to attain two extra occasions within the following 12 minutes. Kansas Metropolis constructed a 5-1 lead by the 68th minute, when 16-year-old Alex Pfeiffer turned the youngest objective scorer in NWSL regular-season historical past.
What regarded like an insurance coverage objective from Pfeiffer ended up being the sport winner because the Thorns stormed again to make the sport fascinating behind braces from forwards Sophia Smith and Janine Beckie.
Andonovski made his title within the NWSL for his groups’ sound defensive buildings. He mentioned he was “terrified” to concede 4 objectives on Saturday, however he was comfortable together with his staff’s skill to grind out an unsightly sport and choose up three factors on a historic day.
“If we will describe this staff, it must be like we’re describing Kansas Metropolis,” Andonovski mentioned. “It must be hardworking, resilient, with aptitude, grit, actually in folks’s faces. We confirmed it at the moment. We weren’t good in moments there. We did not win as a result of we have been so good or so a lot better than Portland; we received as a result of we have been Kansas Metropolis.”
The stadium is uniquely Kansas Metropolis, too, from its location on the southern financial institution of the Missouri River, to the staff’s distinctive teal colour that runs all through the ability in every part from the seating to the lavatory hand cleaning soap.
Saturday was a very long time coming for gamers and coaches who have been round for the NWSL’s frugal early years. DiBernardo is a 10-year veteran of the league who began her skilled profession taking part in at a 3,000-seat faculty soccer stadium within the Chicago suburbs.
“[From] the place we began with this league and the place we are actually it simply exhibits the expansion and the way a lot the gamers have put in and actually pushed the usual and the way a lot we have needed to actually battle for ourselves,” DiBernardo mentioned. “And it is simply the beginning. We’ve grown in our voice and [we’re] simply pushing the restrict, and I feel at the moment was only a particular first expertise and it is a day that we can’t overlook.”
Andonovski was the primary coach of the town’s unique NWSL staff, FC Kansas Metropolis, which launched within the league’s inaugural season in 2013 and folded in late 2017. That staff performed in a highschool soccer stadium exterior of the town.
He returned to the league and Kansas Metropolis after final 12 months’s World Cup disappointment as head coach of the US as a result of he was bought on the imaginative and prescient of the Longs to make the Present the very best staff on this planet.
“That is one thing that may change the world of girls’s soccer,” Andonovski mentioned. “That is the start of change.”