USWNT and NWSL great Kelley O'Hara is officially on Gotham FC's season-ending injury list due to "chronic knee degeneration," the club announced on Saturday.
Set to retire at the end of this season, the news means O'Hara played her last pro match on September 8th. Gotham will toast O'Hara's decorated career on October 20th, when they face Orlando for their final regular-season home game.
Gotham and KC punch tickets to NWSL playoffs
With four of eight 2024 NWSL playoff spots now accounted for, No. 3 Gotham FC and No. 4 Kansas City punched their tickets to the postseason this weekend.
The Current made their postseason statement on Friday, taking down the visiting No. 2 Washington Spirit 3-0 behind Golden Boot race leader Temwa Chawinga's 16th goal.
Notably, the Spirit's loss saw star Trinity Rodman exiting the match with a visibly intense back spasm in the 75th minute. Afterwards, Lena Silano was dealt a red card in second-half stoppage time.
Then on Sunday, Gotham secured their postseason berth with a tidy 1-0 win over last-place Utah in New Jersey.
Gotham FC makes history at White House
After playing three matches in six days, Gotham FC traveled to Washington, DC, where they became the first club in NWSL history to visit the White House for an official team celebration on Monday.
While the USWNT has visited the White House for winning the World Cup — most recently in 2015 — only one women's soccer club has ever been honored as such. Sky Blue FC, the same franchise that rebranded into Gotham, was welcomed by Obama in 2010 for winning the folded WPS’s 2009 championship.
Joining President Joe Biden for Monday's commemoration was NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman and members of the 2023 championship team, including retired defender Ali Krieger.
Krieger had another reason to celebrate: On Thursday, she was named Gotham's first-ever team ambassador.
Earlier this week, ESPN released the results of an anonymous study surveying all 14 NWSL general managers, providing key insights into the growing league.
While nearly all respondents agreed that depth of competition sets the NWSL apart on a global level, they hold differing opinions about the league’s inner workings.
NWSL budgets and entry draft elimination are key concerns
Budgetary practices were a common concern of GMs across the board, while the loss of the entry draft — ushered in by the league's new CBA — presented similar issues.
Some GMs pointed out that many teams aren't yet profitable enough to justify current costs, while others pushed for more spending in order to draw top players away from leagues that don't impose a hard salary cap, like the UK's WSL.
Similarly, because the US lacks any true professional development infrastructure, GMs worry that dropping the college draft will divert young US talent overseas, ultimately softening the NWSL’s competitive edge.
Some GMs claim NWSL player protections have "gone too far"
When asked about recent cultural reforms in the wake of sexual misconduct and abuse allegations, multiple GMs claimed that efforts to protect players have "gone too far," spreading fear and confusion among staff.
Yesterday, retired NWSL star Ali Krieger took to ESPN's Futbol W to respond, saying she didn't "have a lot of sympathy for those few GMs that might be a little bit more disgruntled on this topic."
"You have to, in those positions of power, be respectful and do your job and do it well," she continued. "You shouldn’t have any worry about what you say, how you say it, what you do, how you do it, if you’re just doing the right thing and you’re being respectful and you’re doing your job appropriately."
Gotham FC is headed to Times Square for New Year’s Eve.
Ali Krieger, Kelley O’Hara and Midge Purce are set to lead the 60-second countdown into 2024. The NWSL champions will be recognized as the official special guests for the famed celebration in New York City.
As part of the countdown, the trio will push the crystal button set on the main stage in Times Square, which will start the ball drop.
Krieger, O’Hara and Purce join an annual tradition for New Year’s Eve that dates back to the mid-1990s. Previous special guests include former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Lady Gaga and Muhammad Ali.
“As we bring 2023 to a close, we are excited to welcome the city’s newest champion – NJ/NY Gotham FC – to our global celebration,” said Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance. “There is no better place and no bigger party to celebrate NJ/NY Gotham FC than Times Square New Year’s Eve.”
Jeff Straus, president of Countdown Entertainment, which helps to put on the event, said they are “proud” to honor Gotham FC and the club’s first NWSL championship.
“The team serves as an inspiration for hard work and perseverance and their positivity and energy will carry with us into 2024,” he said.
The ball drop continues what has been a star-studded championship tour for Gotham FC, which has included ringing the opening bell on Wall Street and making an appearance on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live.”
American soccer stars arrived at the second annual U.S. women’s national team Players Ball on Dec. 7 dressed to the nines and ready to celebrate. At the ball, the USWNT players association honored Ali Krieger and spotlighted her illustrious career.
Krieger retired from professional soccer after her former NWSL team — NJ/NY Gotham FC — took home its first NWSL championship on Nov. 11. It was also Krieger’s first NWSL championship victory, and her medal sits among other impressive hardware in her trophy case, including the 2014 CONCACAF women’s championship and two World Cups with the USWNT.
Krieger dazzled in a light blue, Gotham-esque dress and gave an emotional speech after she was honored by the players association. Much of Krieger’s speech was recorded and posted to X (formerly known as Twitter) by The Athletic’s Meg Linehan.
Another lovely moment for @alikrieger tonight, one of the retiring #USWNT players honored this year at the @USWNTPlayers Ball — with a very heartfelt (if unplanned) speech. pic.twitter.com/s7UlGZEnAQ
— Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) December 7, 2023
“To my former teammates, I don’t know how I would be where I am without you,” Krieger said. “You made me look so damn good on that field, you know who you are. Thank you for, just, carrying me through, this has been such a difficult year, but also a year that I cherish because I learned so much about myself.”
Krieger reminisced on her final season as a player and its challenges. Off the pitch, she went through a divorce with her ex-wife and former USWNT goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, and, two days before her NWSL championship victory, her father went into hospice care. As Krieger thanked her closest friends and teammates, her voice broke and her eyes welled with tears.
“I’ve been through a lot this year and, thanks to you, Crystal is definitely one of the ones who reached out the most, Pinoe, Syd and all my former [teammates,] Midge. Obviously, I wouldn’t’ve — I’m going to get so emotional — I wouldn’t’ve been able to survive without you,” Krieger said.
Krieger also shouted out the younger generation of USWNT players and discussed the future of the team.
“To the younger players who are so effin’ talented, I love watching you play, you are gonna carry this team,” Krieger said. “You’re going to carry this team to championships, we will get on the right path because of you. You guys can do so much more than I ever could have done on this field.”
Krieger expressed her thanks for her past teammates and for the opportunities that professional soccer has given her, while saying she’s excited for what’s coming next.
“Winning championships has been incredible, but what’s most important is the lifelong friendships that we’ll carry on throughout the rest of our time, and I’m so excited for that. I’m so excited for the next chapter. I’m so excited to share with all of you.”
The Soccer Tournament is adding a women’s field after debuting this summer, and Heather O’Reilly has even bigger plans for the players she wants to recruit to her team competing in the event.
The 7-on-7, winner-take-all event debuted in June with a grand prize of $1 million. Former U.S. women’s national team star O’Reilly entered an all-women team in the tournament, which was otherwise made up of all men.
Now, the event is introducing a women’s field thanks to the help of O’Reilly’s squad, which included former national team players, was coached by Mia Hamm and drew widespread support. The 2024 women’s tournament will award a separate $1 million prize to the winner in an effort to ensure equal pay.
“We were blown away last year [summer 2023] by the reception that Heather O’Reilly’s U.S. Women team got down in North Carolina,” Jon Mugar, the founder and CEO of The Tournaments, told ESPN. “There were a lot of people there cheering them on specifically and getting to know Heather throughout the process. We quickly got to talking about, ‘Hey, what would this look like if we were to break out a women’s bracket with a separate and equal million-dollar prize?'”
Even if the tournament hadn’t added a women’s bracket, O’Reilly and her team would have returned to competition. But now, more women will have the chance to play as part of an eight-team field, smaller than the men’s 48-team field.
“I’m thrilled to take part again in it this year, and I think it’s a huge statement that TST and the organizers have committed to equal prize money,” O’Reilly told ESPN. “The statement that it makes and the feeling around equality, I think is super special.”
O’Reilly, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion with the USWNT, says she’s going to be calling up some old U.S. teammates who recently retired. The tournament will return to Cary, N.C. and take place June 5-10.
“I’m a competitor and I like our chances,” O’Reilly said. “I’m definitely going to be calling a lot of the household names that everybody can imagine that just retired, like Ali Krieger, Julie Ertz, Carli Lloyd. I can promise that we’ll get some big names there. We’re four hours away from a million-dollar prize.”
The U.S. women’s national team will honor Ali Krieger before its final match of 2023.
A two-time World Cup champion with the USWNT, Krieger won the 2023 NWSL title with Gotham FC in her final professional season. The 39-year-old defender served as the captain for Gotham en route to the franchise’s first championship.
“I’ve dreamt of this for so long,” Krieger said after the NWSL final on Nov. 11. “To play club soccer in my own country and to win it in front of 25,000 people, and it’s only going to get better and better. This is just the beginning.”
The USWNT will honor Krieger for her storied career ahead of its Dec. 5 match against China, which is set to kick off at 8 p.m. ET in Frisco, Texas. Krieger appeared in 108 matches for the USWNT, including at the World Cup in 2011, 2015 and 2019.
“Playing for the national team was a very special part of my career, and those experiences helped shape me as a professional,” Krieger said in a news release. “I’m honored that I get to say goodbye to the women’s national team and our amazing fans one last time and watch all the talented players who are continuing to carry the torch for this program.”
Honoring Ali 💙
— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) November 27, 2023
We'll celebrate the career of @alikrieger before kickoff in Frisco, TX on December 5 » https://t.co/OVvvRvqZ3J
Christen Press was as excited as the rest of the soccer community to watch Ali Krieger take home the 2023 NWSL Championship with Gotham FC.
On the latest episode of “The RE-CAP Show,” Press described herself as “on the edge of our seats” for the entirety of Saturday’s final. And one of the best parts of the match was getting to see how loved Krieger is. Press and Krieger played together on the 2015 and 2019 World Cup squads for the U.S. women’s national team.
“I think that it is warm and fuzzies to the max. This player, our friend, is so loved,” Press told co-host Tobin Heath. “She is adored by her teammates, by the teams that she plays on, by the entire community. … The Ali Krieger supporter group was massive and it was loud. We had Ali Krieger chants reverberating through the stadium the entire time, and that must be so cool to feel that in your final match.”
Part of what made it so satisfying to watch Krieger win the championship, Press said, is how Krieger has valued the NWSL from the very start of the league. While some treated it as a “stepping stone” for the national team, Krieger always has valued the NWSL on its own merit.
“I have never experienced someone who is able to put so much effort and energy and love into every single day of what she does,” Press continued. “She plays every single game like it’s the World Cup. She plays five-on-five in training like it’s a World Cup final.
“I’m like, aren’t you exhausted carrying this much for this long? I do not know how you do it. I do not understand how you could care that much all the freaking time.”
She also attributed part of Gotham’s energy and culture to what Krieger has established since joining the club last year.
“You’ve got a player that has done what she needs to do in her career,” she said. “And instead of being like, this is my victory tour, she says at the beginning of the season, ‘I want to win this trophy, I have not won this trophy.’ She frickin’ manifested that.”
Ali Krieger might not be walking away from soccer completely.
The two-time World Cup champion ended her professional soccer career by winning the the 2023 NWSL Championship with Gotham FC. Now she’s plotting her next chapter.
Speaking on CBS Sports’ “We Need To Talk,” Krieger, 39, said that she might find herself back on the field someday, but on the sidelines. She has her U.S. Soccer B License, with the coaching course paid by the NWSL.
“We want to get more female coaches into the professional game and the college game,” Krieger said. “I’m open to [coaching]. I feel like I’m a little too nice. I wouldn’t be able to look at players and tell them why they’re not starting, all the difficult conversations I think I would struggle with at the beginning and maybe I would get better at it.
“But I can be very demanding and supportive, and I think that’s what a lot of players and teams need. Because you know how players can be so good and that’s why you can demand more from them. But also be super supportive, because they need to feel confident. They need to feel like they can just go and express themselves and really get the best out of them. And so I try to do both of those. But I could see myself being maybe an assistant or a specific defensive coach, because I love defending so much.”
Still, Krieger is “ready for anything” in retirement and is excited to move on to the next chapter of her life, especially considering that she’s going out as a champion. And Gotham players have been partying so hard, she said, that they already chipped the brand-new championship trophy.
“The world is my oyster now,” she said. “This has been such an incredible ride this year and then to end this weekend – I’m still processing it in real time. … This is something I’ve been trying to work towards for so long, 11 years that we’ve had this league I had yet to win and then it happened this weekend.”
While she could have played for a little while longer, Krieger is starting to feel it in her back a little bit, she said. And she wants to spend more time with her kids.
“Back-to-back champions might be kinda nice too but I think, honestly, this is such an amazing way for me to go out,” she said. “An incredible game, an incredible year that we had and I think I wanna end up on top.”
SAN DIEGO — After lifting the 2023 NWSL trophy on Saturday, no one registered more giddy surprise over their accomplishment than NJ/NY Gotham FC’s players. The club had just put the final stamp on their “worst to first” narrative, a term that retiring legend Ali Krieger said began almost as a joke before becoming the team’s reality.
“In preseason, we were like, ‘We have to go worst to first,’” she told the media after Gotham’s 2-1 win over OL Reign. “And we were kind of laughing at first, because we’re like, oh my god, we’re really going to do it.”
The NWSL playoffs are an American construct of modern soccer, infusing the chaos of knockout soccer into a system that historically rewards steady consistency over the excitement of a few moments of brilliance.
After finishing 2022 in the basement of the NWSL standings, Gotham proved to be stunningly resilient in the 2023 playoffs. They held clean sheets when they could, scored goals when they had to, and saved some of their best collective play for the game that mattered the most.
No one would accuse Gotham of crashing the party, but contending for an NWSL Championship used to be something of a perennial experience. Before the playoffs were expanded in 2021, Portland, Seattle, North Carolina and the Chicago Red Stars tended to duke it out in the postseason, sometimes flanked by the old FC Kansas City teams or North Carolina’s predecessors, the Western New York Flash.
More often than not, North Carolina/Western New York and Portland made it the farthest, swapping title wins from 2016-19. The winner of the playoffs didn’t always reflect the strongest regular season squad (the “Shield Curse” legend didn’t grow out of nowhere), but fans became used to familiar faces taking part in the trophy lift even as the league’s parity shined in other areas.
While teams from that era still loom large over the playoff picture, the suspended 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately proved to be the end of that dynasty era. It was followed by a season of turmoil due to investigations in widespread abuse, forcing front office turnover and, in some cases, club sales.
The 2021 season also launched the six-team playoff structure, giving quarterfinalists a chance to build true momentum through the postseason. The Washington Spirit felt like the first of a new class of champions in 2021, who came together at just the right time after an up-and-down regular season.
If the Spirit nudged the door open, then Gotham FC kicked it off its hinges with their 2023 championship win. The team colloquially known as “the Bats” is the first No. 6 seed to win an NWSL Championship.
“We squeaked into playoffs and made it all the way,” Championship MVP Midge Purce said after the game, summing up Gotham’s Cinderella story.
But now that the confetti has been swept up, and the free agency cycle is once again in full swing, two questions linger: Can Gotham replicate their success next year, and can the playbook for their turnaround be replicated by other teams?
To answer both questions, it’s necessary to look at how the Bats achieved one of the most impressive season comebacks in league history. That process started with the hiring of Juan Carlos Amorós, who communicated his style of play to the team’s leaders from Day 1 and received full-team buy-in in return.
Gotham general manager Yael Averbuch then oversaw an excellent 2023 draft week, during which the club traded for U.S. women’s national team forward Lynn Williams and 2022 NWSL champion Yazmeen Ryan, as well as selected future Rookie of the Year Jenna Nighswonger. The team also did well in free agency, signing 2021 NWSL champion Kelley O’Hara and 2022 champion Abby Smith.
With the additions of Williams, O’Hara, Ryan and Smith, Gotham suddenly had a lot of championship experience in their starting XI. The club didn’t sit idle during the midseason transfer window either, signing Spanish players Esther González and Maitane López, both of whom started in the 2023 title game. They also signed Katie Stengel, first on loan and then by permanent transfer. The forward came in off the bench in the semifinal to score a rocket and lead Gotham to their first championship game.
That much change in one year was warranted after the team’s 2022 results, but there was no guarantee of immediate success with that many new personalities in the locker room. Gotham’s players, however, found ways to connect quickly, relying on shared histories and a desire to win.
“I think the thing is, a lot of us have known each other for years,” Purce said during NWSL Championship week.
“I did U-17s with Ify [Onumonu] and Mandy [Freeman], I lived with Ify for a while. I’ve known Delaney [Sheehan] for a long time. Ali Krieger gave me my high school award. Allie Long was one of the first people to ever talk to me at national team camp,” she continued. “So I think there’s a lot of crossover through a lot of the age groups, and then we have a lot of veterans. I think we have a really strong leadership core that knows how to win, and I think that’s been really indispensable.”
González and Williams, proven winners, scored the two goals to earn Gotham the title, but it was Purce who facilitated the team’s biggest moments by notching both assists. For one brilliant 90-minute period, the team’s past and present formed an unbeatable force. Longtime Gotham backup keeper Amanda Haught once again stood strong against an onslaught from OL Reign, and Krieger played some of the best soccer of her life in the final matches of her career.
On another level today. 🤯
— NJ/NY Gotham FC (@GothamFC) November 12, 2023
Take a bow, @100Purcent. pic.twitter.com/oJ9sPq1FHy
Other teams will have to be similarly aggressive and good judges of player character to replicate Gotham’s accomplishments. It’s not always easy to handpick the personalities that will be entering your locker room, or know how players with greater seniority will process sweeping changes.
The Bats got that mix exactly right this year, but as is the case in sports, they will be presented with similar decisions to make for 2024. Many players considered important leaders for the team, including goalkeeper Michelle Betos and midfielder McCall Zerboni, are closer to the ends of their careers than the beginning. They also have former starters now coming off the bench, like Onumonu, who might be searching for starting opportunities elsewhere.
The club will also be dealing with one of the best problems they could have — becoming a well-regarded destination. This year’s free agency period holds top talent, including three-time NWSL champions Crystal Dunn and Becky Sauerbrunn. If Gotham wants to replenish their roster with even more winning talent, they’ll have the opportunity.
But if Gotham followed in the footsteps of the 2021 Washington Spirit by catching fire at exactly the right time to launch themselves to unprecedented success, they’ll want to avoid coming back down. The Spirit have yet to return to the playoffs since their championship win, despite consistent investment in growing their front-office infrastructure.
Getting to the top is hard, but staying there is harder. Averbuch and Amorós will have to stay vigilant to keep their club from being remembered as a one-hit wonder.
Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.
Sue Bird is welcoming fiancée Megan Rapinoe into retirement with open arms.
Rapinoe played in her final professional soccer game in Saturday’s 2023 NWSL Championship. The OL Reign star exited after just six minutes with a suspected Achilles injury in the 1-0 loss to Gotham FC, and her teammates and opponents alike called the turn of events “devastating” for the soccer legend.
“I just feel so gutted for her. Honestly, I never thought that would ever happen,” fellow retiree and Gotham captain Ali Krieger said. “And I feel so sad because you know football is such a risk, right? And you never know if it’s going to be your last game, your last moment.
“And to happen to such an incredible player, in that moment … It just is so sad and I feel for her and I’m gonna be there every step of the way for her recovery. … And I never wanted that to happen because I wanted to celebrate with her at the end.”
Bird, who has been in a relationship with Rapinoe since 2017, retired from professional basketball last year as one of the greatest players in WNBA history. In a post on Instagram Stories, the Seattle Storm great welcomed Rapinoe into retirement.
“Cheer to you, baby! To an unbelievable career, to all you’ve accomplished, and to all the lives you’ve impacted along the way,” she wrote. “It’s not how you wanted it to end. It’s not how any of us wanted it to end, but the truth is a legacy like yours has no ending.
“Even though you’re saying goodbye to the game, you’ll be saying hello to a whole lot more and that legacy will just continue to grow. Congratulations and welcome to retirement!! I’ve been waiting for you.”