Photo credit: Jay Biggerstaff / USA TODAY Sports
KANSAS CITY — Missing seven players to the 2024 Paris Olympics, NJ/NY Gotham FC has had to be a little more creative with its lineups in the inaugural NWSL x LIGA MX Femenil Summer Cup.
Coach Juan Carlos Amorós has seemingly taken it in stride, advancing to the August championship match with three wins in group play and a 1-0 victory against Angel City FC on Tuesday afternoon at CPKC Stadium.
“[I have] admiration, respect and gratitude for the effort in football they have put in this month because we had a lot of players out, a lot of players leave for international duty, but also getting hurt in this competition,” Amorós said after the match.
And those missing players are not just any players. His starting goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger helped Germany record a pair of shutouts and reach the bronze medal match. Four of the six Americans have started and the other two have played significant minutes for the gold medal contenders.
Esther González, Mandy Freeman and Ella Stevens are also consistent contributors, sidelined for now with injuries.
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Teams were allowed to bring in National Team Replacement Players to round out their rosters and Gotham picked four. Sabrina Flores was the only one who saw the pitch this time, subbing in during the 89th.
Depending on where each club started group play, they faced one or two opponents from LIGA MX Femenil in a round-robin format. The other two or three in a group were familiar foes from the NWSL. Ultimately, NWSL teams won all five groups leaving Gotham, Angel City, Kansas City and North Carolina in the semifinals.
“Playing against the international teams has brought a different flair to the Summer [Cup] not just playing NWSL teams,” Gotham goalkeeper Cassie Miller said. “It gives so many people more opportunities to shine and show how good the NWSL is and how many strong players we have in this league.”
Miller has perhaps benefited the most, having started just six matches with Gotham so far this season. She faced 11 shots and 13 corner kicks from Angel City on Tuesday but still recorded a shutout with three saves. Typically playing behind Berger, Miller entered the match with just 16 shots on target faced this season.
Delanie Sheehan, a midfielder for Gotham, scored the team’s lone goal. It would have been her second of the year but does not count toward her NWSL regular season statistics.
The Kansas City Current, 2-0 winners of the second semifinal over the North Carolina Courage, came at the tournament from a different angle.
They lost three players to Olympic duty, but none had played significant minutes for the Current so far. Desiree Scott (Canada), Lauren (Brazil) and Nichelle Prince (Canada) have played a combined 222 minutes across 11 matches. Lauren and Prince each started one match as they dealt with lingering injuries.
Still, players like Debinha, who led the team in scoring last season before a slower start to her 2024 campaign, took the chance to contribute as Current coach Vlatko Andonovski tested different combinations. She scored Kansas City’s second goal in the Summer Cup semifinal match, giving her three for the tournament. Debinha has one goal and two assists in 12 regular season matches.
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Incidentally, this tournament also provided the perfect opportunity for Angel City’s Christen Press to make her long-awaited return to the pitch. She subbed in during the 80th minute on Tuesday for her second appearance of the tournament and said she appreciated the opportunity to play an NWSL opponent in a lower-pressure setting.
“It was a blessing to have these Summer Cup games to start to get back into it, so in the league when it really matters, hopefully, I’m jumping out of the gate,” Press said.
Press, who played three stoppage-time minutes during the club’s final group-stage match, called it another important step in her return from an ACL injury that kept her off the pitch for more than two years. She’s had four knee surgeries since June 11, 2022.
“It’s another couple of boxes checked for me,” Press said. “Getting my first minutes was a long time coming and now getting my first minutes on the road, there are a lot of things you have to do on the road to get back to your best.”
Although summer is rapidly turning into fall, Gotham and the Current will not meet for the tournament championship until October 25 in San Antonio, Texas. In the meantime, teams will return to regular league competition on Aug. 24 after a lengthy Olympic break. The Current will also sneak in an appearance at The Women’s Cup, which they will host at CPKC Stadium on Aug. 14 and 17.
To save you from pulling up a schedule, Kansas City and Gotham are scheduled to meet once before that Summer Cup championship on Sept. 28. They played to a draw on April 14 in their only other meeting.
