Watch FC Kansas City Vs. Seattle Reign Live Online: NWSL Championship — See Hope Solo, Megan Rapinoe
Women’s soccer fans can watch live online as the Seattle Reign battle FC Kansas City for the National Women’s Soccer League championship Thursday, capping a huge year for the women’s version of the sport in the U.S.A. — a year in which the U.S. National Women’s Soccer Team won the World Cup for the third time.
Several stars from the World Champion national team will be in action Thursday in the NWSL championship game, including goalie Hope Solo and midfielder Megan Rapinoe on the Seattle side, and midfielders Lauren Holiday, Heather O’Reilly and Amy Rodriguez as well as defender Becky Sauerbrunn — the NWSL Defender of the Year — featuring for FC Kansas City.
Seattle also boasts defender Stephanie Cox, who played on the 2007 World Cup third-place team for the United States.
Despite missing Solo and Rapinoe for much of the season due to their national team commitments — including of course the 2015 World Cup played in Canada from June 6 to July 5 — the Seattle Reign blew past the competition to record the league’s best record in the 20-game NWSL season, winning 13 games while losing only three with four draws, good for the NWSL Shield.
FC Kansas City finished third on the NWSL table, with nine wins, six defeats, and five draws.
The Thursday night game will be a rematch of the 2014 NWSL Championship Final, a game won by FC Kansas City 2-1 behind a pair of goals from Rodriguez.
To find out how to watch the FC Kansas City vs. Seattle Reign FC NWSL Championship game live online, see the streaming link in the final paragraph of this article. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, October 1, at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon — home of the NWSL Portland Thorns as well as the MLS Portland Timbers.
That’s 8:30 p.m. for viewers in the Eastern Time zone, 7:30 Central.
Seattle has won the NWSL Shield — for the league’s best regular season record — two years in a row now. But they lost the championship match to Kansas City last year, and so will be be going for their first league title on Thursday night.
The two teams met twice in the regular season, splitting the series with each team winning at home.
“This is a very unique place, a very unique experience for everybody,” said Laura Harvey, the Seattle coach. “But without a doubt, if we don’t get a championship, we’ll look back on it with regret.”
Harvey, a native of Warwickshire, England, is currently the only female coach in the nine-team National Women’s Soccer League, and if Seattle wins the NWSL Championship on Thursday night, she would be only the second woman to coach a team to the league title.
Still only 35-years-old, Harvey came to Seattle three years ago already boasting extensive experience coaching the Arsenal women’s team in the English league, winning three straight Women’s Premier League championships and a Coach of the Year award.
But though Harvey has had unarguable success at the helm of Seattle Reign FC, she has also courted controversy, making a highly unpopular trade last March, dealing U.S. National Team star Sydney Leroux to the Western New York Flash.
Seattle advanced to the NWSL Championship Final by defeating the Washington Spirit 3-0, while FC Kansas City topped second-place finisher Chicago Red Stars by an identical score.
To watch the FC Kansas City vs. Seattle Reign National Women’s Soccer League championship final match live online, visit Fox Sports Go at this link. To watch on mobile devices, download the Fox Sports Go app.
[Images: Craig Mitchelldyer / Getty Images]
