Kansas City Current and Angel City FC bring high scoring squads to quarterfinal action

When two of the NWSL's highest-scoring teams meet in a playoff game, you can expect fireworks. The Kansas City Current will host Angel City FC at CPKC Stadium on Saturday at 12 p.m. ET on CBS, and the two sides are peaking at the right time as the postseason begins, with both clubs finishing the regular season with 54 goals scored.

Kansas City have a 32-game home unbeaten streak that dates back to 2024, making the riverfront home a place where visiting teams typically lose. Angel City return to the playoffs for the first time since 2023 on a 10-game unbeaten run, and are equally relentless on the road. Angel City won the first regular-season meeting between them at BMO Stadium, 2-1, back in May, while the rematch in August ended in a 1-1 draw in Kansas City.

Both teams took different paths to reach the playoffs and match up well on paper, but something has to give, and the winner advances to the semifinals.

Here's everything you need to know about the big game on CBS:

Kansas City playoff return

The 2025 NWSL Shield winners had a tough start to the season. After the team was bounced out of the 2025 playoffs in the opening round, Vlatko Andonovski moved to an executive role while the club brought in Chris Armas as new head coach. Two-time Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga started the 2026 season on the injury report, and the club suffered multiple player departures, including Bia Zaneratto and Claire Hutton.

The early results were rough, with zero wins in the opening four games of the season, and players either not gelling together or occupying similar spaces or even running into each other. They maneuvered the first quarter of the schedule closer to the bottom half of the league table than the playoff line.

There was a doubling down of questions about Armas, his limited knowledge of the NWSL and women's pro soccer, and whether or not injuries or absences kept him from rolling out a complete lineup. But things finally shifted with the spring and, of course, the return of Chawinga.

Midfielder Croix Bethune, who was acquired in preseason, grew into her role and set an NWSL single-season record with 11 assists, including six game-winning assists. Forward Haley Hopkins had a breakout season; after being traded to the club in 2025, she co-leads the team with Chawinga in goals (12) this year. The roster's 54 goals are split across 13 different players.

"I'd say that what's clear is that we've just come together. Is it the right time? It's just an important time of year to have most of your players healthy. We're at a good fitness level. The team has been together all year, but you have to go through things sometimes to, you know, see your best version. And sometimes it's adversity. And when does that come? I've always said that oftentimes teams experience that in a season, and we had a lot of it this year," Armas told CBS Sports.

"On the outside, they might just see we're not getting results, or they might ignore some of the performances for a long time. Things like XG, and like, we just had a process. We talk about sticking to it, but the team has been through a lot of change, a lot of injuries this year early on to key players, and all along I know whether a team believes it or not, we were finding different ways of doing things. Some of it was by design because I'm a new coach to the team. Some of it was finding different ways to score and different people to rely on, and different ways to attack and create chances. And even some of our high press and mid block, and some of it was different ways of doing things," Armas explained.

All of the ups and downs and adjustments were ultimately seeds planted along the way, Armas also said. The playoffs are maybe just the time to harvest, but mostly it's about how the team is performing on a consistent basis now, and how that's reverberated throughout the locker room.

"I think that we've gotten to see some of that come to fruition throughout the season, but consistently right now, which then is the belief and confidence that comes, and that's contagious. It's contagious for Angel City. It's contagious for teams like Gotham and Washington, like some of these teams that have done really well. And it's been contagious for us ... So we're in a good moment, and it all resets because we play against another team in a good moment. But we like where we're at. We like who we are, and we're up for it," he said.

Angel City's remarkable second half

Maybe Angel City's executives cracked the code to a long season. If you're not doing well and there is still a ton of season left, maybe just go ahead and make the call. They made multiple. While big gambles don't always pay off, they are paying off right now for Angel City.

First, the club parted ways with head coach Alexander Straus in June. After a three-game win streak to open the season, the club hit a massive speed bump and managed only one win over its next eight games. They then used the summer break to make another bold move, trading $850,000 in intraleague transfer funds to the Kansas City Current for forward Ally Sentnor.

With Leif Gunnar Smerud as interim head coach, Sentnor's addition, and the return of Savy King to the backline, the club went on one of its best runs in club history. The group has one loss in its last 14 games and is on a 10-game unbeaten streak heading into the quarterfinals. They co-lead the regular season with Kansas City in goals scored (54), with as many different goal scorers (13) as their playoff opponent.

Sveindis Jonsdottir and Maiara Niehues each set club records for single-season goals, scoring 19 between them. But the defense has been just as essential to the surge in form. Goalkeeper Angelina Anderson posted 10 clean sheets, and fullbacks King and Evelyn Shores elevated their play, with Shores leading the team with eight assists.

"We are in a good place. We're gonna have to keep doing what we've been doing well, which is play the game and the situation in front of us. We have been able to go to very different games and game scenarios, and opponents and stadiums, and sort of managed to find a way to win, and done it with courage and with the attacking mindset," Smerud told CBS Sports.

"We scored a lot of goals. I think most in the league, together with Kansas. So it's to go out there and be us, and then of course be prepared for. It's a home playoff game for them, and they will certainly want to win it. But we have to be ready from the start. That's the main thing. And we can for sure go there and win this game. But it's not going to come for free," he said.

What's next

The NWSL quarterfinals are underway; the winner of Kansas City Current vs. Angel City will face the winner of Gotham FC vs. Seattle Reign in the semifinals. The semifinal round of the NWSL playoffs will take place on Nov. 14 and 15.