Well everybody — this is it. The big one. The ‘Ship. For all the marbles.

The NWSL Championship match.

Your Portland Thorns face the Kansas City Current at Audi Field in Washington, DC in the final game of the 2022 NWSL season, with a trophy on the line.

Storylines So Far

The Portland Thorns qualified for the final in the most dramatic of fashions, coming from behind to defeat the San Diego Wave in the final game at Providence Park in 2022. Rocky Rodriguez scored an absolute banger to equalize the game, and then Crystal Dunn brought the house down with an epic goal in second half stoppage time to send the Thorns through to the Championship game.

This will be Portland’s fourth ever appearance in the final, and they have a 2-1 record in their previous appearances. They won the inaugural NWSL Championship in 2013, and then followed it up four years later when they won their second star in 2017. The last time the Thorns were in the Championship game was in 2018, when they fell at home to North Carolina. Now, they will be seeking to right that memory, and become the first NWSL team to have the honor of three stars above their badge.

Standing in the way of that is the Kansa City Current — a somewhat unexpected opponent. KC has pulled out two very gritty and impressive wins on the road so far in these playoffs: They first knocked off the Houston Dash 2-1 in Texas (via some stoppage time magic of their own), and then upset the 2022 NWSL Shield winners OL Reign by blanking them in Seattle to the tune of 2-0. Goalkeeper (and former Thorn) AD Franch was huge in both of those games, and comes into the final on a hot run of form.

Kansas City are worthy opponents in the final, and deserve their spot just as much as the Thorns do. I could spend more time talking about form and history — but if we’re being honest all of the goes out the window in a final.

One game left. All on the line. Go Thorns.

Pregame Reading

If you want to relive the thrilling semifinal, Alex and Wilder gave an account of how it felt on the ground last Sunday.

In case you missed it, Sophia Smith became the youngest MVP in NWSL history.

There is a history between NWSL teams from Portland and Kansas City, and Melina wrote all about it.

Melina also put together a preview of tonight’s huge finale.

How to Watch

Location: Audi Field | Washington, DC

Time: 5 p.m. PT

Watch: CBS, Twitch (international)

Lineups

Portland Thorns

Kansas City Current