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Gotham FC came to London for the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup this week viewing the extra tournament games as an extension to their 2025 NWSL title-winning season.
They wanted to set the right tone for 2026 by capturing a big win on the international stage.
Instead, Gotham walked away from Wednesday’s semifinals match against the Brazilian club Corinthians with a mixture of disappointment and concern.
Star midfielder Rose Lavelle left Gotham’s 1-0 loss in the fourth minute of stoppage time with concussion-like symptoms after getting hit in the head with the ball.
Fellow forward Gabi Portilho also was subbed out with an apparent ankle injury.
The severity of either injury was not immediately known.
“Hopefully, they are both fine,” Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós told reporters after the loss.
Portilho’s status for Sunday’s third-place match against Morocco’s ASFAR remains uncertain, while Lavelle is expected to be sidelined indefinitely after entering concussion protocol.
Gotham knew there were pros and cons to playing in the inaugural Women’s Champions Cup – an opportunity they earned after winning last year’s CONCACAF W Champions Cup last May.
Having a shot at winning the title of “the world’s best club” along with the $2.3 million prize outweighed the sacrifices that would come with having a shorter offseason and the extra miles that came with a longer playing calendar.
But Gotham’s surprising loss to Corinthians casts a shadow on this opportunity.
Now, the best Gotham can finish is third and the club will receive only a $200,000 bonus for making it this far.
After the loss, defender Jess Carter said the team was “all a bit disappointed.”
“We feel like we probably should have done better throughout the game and been more clinical in both boxes,” Carter said.“There’s not really much more to say other than probably a little bit disappointed by it.”
Gotham was a favorite to win the first-ever Women’s Championship Cup.
Their biggest competition was believed to be England’s Arsenal, who easily won Wednesday’s second semifinal.
Gotham was in control for most of Wednesday’s match. They outshot their opponents, 21-9, and had seven corner kicks to the Corinthians’ one. Gotham also possessed the ball for 66 percent of the time.
But Gabi Zanotti’s goal in the 83rd minute proved to be enough.
Jaedyn Shaw had an opportunity to score the equalizer at the end of stoppage time, but her free kick outside the 18-yard box went just wide of the nearest post.
While Wednesday wasn’t the result that Gotham was hoping for, Amorós saw a lot of positives from his team.
“The team did really well in every aspect apart from scoring goals,” he said. “I think we dominated. We prepared the whole month for this, and unfortunately today we weren’t good in that aspect.”
Wednesday gave Gotham a starting point for their 2025 NWSL title defense, though the season doesn’t officially begin until March 14.
Still, they wish they were playing for more come Sunday.
“We just normally always want to be in the final. We’re disappointed to not be there,” Carter said.
“But I think there’s a lot of things that we’ve got to look back, review, focus on and do better, not just for this competition, but for the rest of our season.”
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