Patrick Mahomes and his wife Brittany were present for the opening game of the NWSL season, which took place in Kansas City. The KC Current, which is part-owned by the Mahomeses, were hosting the Portland Thorns. The game also marked the opening of the Current's new stadium, which was partially funded by the Mahomeses.
However, any expectations of a calm opening day were blown out of the water by a nine-goal thriller. The Current led 3-0 at halftime and 5-1 after 70 minutes. Despite this, the Thorns came heart-breakingly close to a massive comeback as they scored three times in the final 20 minutes but ran out of time, with the game finishing 5-4 to the Current. The game included a broken record for the Current, with 16-year, 4-month year-old Alex Pfieffer becoming the league's youngest-ever scorer.
Emma Hayes Apologizes For Calling Teammate Relationships "Inappropriate"
Elsewhere, incoming USWNT manager Emma Hayes has apologized for calling relationships between teammates "inappropriate". "I want to be clear to everybody in the room, I don't want to create any more clickbait headlines for you guys. I think sometimes that becomes the case when we have honest conversations about things. Of course, I'm disappointed about that. Of course, Jess and I have had a conversation today as I have with other players in the team. They know exactly who I am and what my intentions were. But I have to expect that -- I'm supposed to be the most well-trained, non-clickbait coach and I let myself down yesterday. I didn't think it was right for me to use the term 'inappropriate' for the players," Hayes said.
Hayes had called teammate relationships "inappropriate" while responding to a question about player-coach relationships. However, despite the subsequent "clickbait headlines" it spawned, her stance was rooted in nothing but team cohesion. One player's in the team, one's not in the team. One might be in the last year of their contract, one might not be. We all know, those of us that have been in the women's game for a long period of time, those things have been happening in dressing rooms. Longer term, it would be ideal [to get to a place] where you don't have to deal with that. We're dealing with human beings. We do talk about it internally," Hayes reasoned.
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