Moments after scoring one of the most iconic goals in NWSL history in her team's biggest match to date, Orlando Pride forward Marta clenched her fist and let out a passionate scream before pounding her chest and then, with his two thumbs, point to the famous No. .10 on the back of his purple jersey.
Even at 38, the six-time World Player of the Year was still the otherworldly star who made defenders fall helplessly to the ground while making a figurative gesture: “Aren't you entertained!?”
Marta was celebrating what turned out to be the winning goal in the top-seeded Pride's 3-2 semifinal victory over No. 4-seeded Kansas City Current on Sunday at Inter&Co Stadium to mark the playoff round of most captivating semi-final the NWSL has ever had. seen.
Now, the league's top two teams will meet in the finals on Saturday in Kansas City, Missouri, where the Pride will take on the No. 2 Washington Spirit. Everything about this NWSL postseason has been entertaining and deviated from the norm unpredictable of the league.
The top seed has won every playoff game so far, an obvious statistic in a vacuum but a shocking fact for a league whose unofficial trademark is chaos. When Orlando and Washington meet on Saturday, it will be the first time since 2019 that the top two finishers have reached the finals. It is also the first time the Shield winner has reached the final in five years.
After historic parity in 2023, a season in which first and last place were separated by just 13 points, and the sixth seed won the title, this year it was about the stars and at the individual and team level. The top four teams were in a class of their own, with fourth-place Kansas City Current finishing 16 points ahead of the fifth-place North Carolina Courage. Orlando finished 40 points ahead of the last place Houston Dash.
The top four finishers advanced in the first round of the playoffs, leading to an incredible semi-final round where the margins were tight. Washington eliminated NJ/NY Gotham FC on Saturday in a penalty shootout thanks to Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury's heroic triple save. Orlando held on to survive a late Kansas City attack in 19 minutes of overtime.
Each of the weekend's victors played to their strengths to prevail: The Spirit rallied to tie in second-half stoppage time with a combination between two rookies, Makenna Morris and Hal Hershfelt, to rally in a late game , as they have done. so many times this year.
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Aubrey Kingsbury saves three PKs, sends Spirit to NWSL final
Aubrey Kingsbury saves all three shots during penalty kicks to send the Washington Spirit to the NWSL final.
Orlando's role players made big changes, including the unheralded Haley McCutcheon, who scored in her second straight playoff game, while Marta and star forward Barbra Banda scored memorable goals.
Speaking before the semifinals about what could separate two of the best teams the league has ever seen, Kansas City head coach Vlatko Andonovski said the game would likely come to a moment of brilliance. He was right, although they were moments, in the plural.
The same can now be said for Saturday's championship, one that without exaggeration could be the most anticipated in the history of the league.
Orlando set a new league record for points (60) and both teams finished the regular season with 18 wins, a new league record. Both teams boast global stars, led by U.S. international forward Trinity Rodman for the Spirit, and each team features a ridiculous amount of roster depth.
The midfield battle will be a disaster, with Hershfelt patrolling from deep for the Spirit and McCutcheon and Angelina countering for Orlando.
Banda — and Marta, as he reminded the world again on Sunday — can single-handedly change a game, but so can Rodman, who provided the winning assist in overtime as a rookie in the 2021 final, when The Spirit won its only trophy to date.
Wide spaces could decide the winner on Saturday, as they did in part during the semifinals. Both goals before the penalty shootout in the Gotham-Spirit semi-final came after individual brilliance on the flank.
The Pride gave up an early goal to Kansas City on Sunday in a moment of transition that ended with current forward Michelle Cooper reaching the baseline on the right flank and crossing the ball to Debinha to finish. Orlando responded quickly when McCutcheon redirected a cross from winger Ally Watt, who assessed current rookie defender Ellie Wheeler one-on-one in the right channel.
Expect Saturday's final to be a chess match between two of the league's best coaches, who got to this moment via two wildly different paths.
Spirit coach Jonatan Giráldez left the glory of Barcelona, which he led to the last two European crowns, to take on the challenge of the NWSL starting in the middle of the season. He has pulled all the right strings even while dealing with mounting injuries, including late-season issues for three starters.
Pride head coach Seb Hines played for Orlando's MLS sister club before becoming an assistant through three different Pride training regimes. He took over as caretaker in 2022 when the Pride were at another low point and turned a desperate club into a tough team to beat and, for the first time in years, a place the players wanted to be. Hines is stoic; Giráldez wears his heart on his sleeve, or at least he did in a loud and hectic semi-final.
Pride and Spirit were separated by just four points in the regular season. Orlando clinched the NWSL Shield in October with a 2-0 home win over an injury-depleted Spirit team (which was compounded by midfielder and captain Andi Sullivan's torn ACL in that game). Marta also made the difference that day, scoring the winning goal from a penalty.
Afterwards, he broke down in tears while celebrating his first U.S. national club trophy since winning the 2011 title in a now-defunct league.
“I stayed here because I want to make history with this team,” Marta said after the Shield-clinching victory on October 6. “And then we did it tonight, and then we'll go for more.”
As Hines said after Sunday's semifinal win, Pride and Spirit were the two best teams this year and deserve to be in the finals. Each of them proved it again in the semifinals when they came from behind and took advantage of all the depth and star power on their respective rosters.
On Saturday they will meet again in a heavyweight fight that will likely be decided with some moments of brilliance. Bringing even a modicum of energy from the playoffs so far into that game guarantees entertainment.
