Week 10.5 recap: Rock bottom

Gotham FC had its most unsuccessful trip abroad in club history as the Bats took part in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup finals. Gotham fell 4-1 to Liga MX side Club América in a semifinal game that included a brutal injury to goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, and then went on to lose the third place match 3-0 to C.F. Pachuca. After only conceding five goals in 10 league games, the Bats gave up a whopping seven in these two matches alone, all while only finding the back of the net once. Why did this happen, and how much should you read into this?

Altitude

In pre-match media availability, head coach Juan Carlos Amorós was asked about the team’s plans for adjusting to the high altitude in Pachuca (~8000 ft above sea level) and his response was “if we can control the game the way we want to, then we will manage the altitude as well.” To his credit, Gotham usually has quite a bit of success controlling the game the way they want to. But the club was perhaps a little naive about just how much the altitude would affect their gameplay. The Bats were already dealing and likely tired from playing their second three-game week in four weeks, and they play a very physically demanding style of football, so the altitude was never going to make things easier. 

Gotham actually started this game out on the front foot before quickly running out of gas. The majority of gameplay took place in Gotham’s attacking half in the first five minutes, with Gotham earning two corner kicks in the opening two. Even in this period, however, the Bats gave up quite a few throw-ins and goal kicks by not running far enough to keep the ball in play, perhaps a harbinger of what was to come.

Another consequence of the Bats running on fumes was that their press wasn’t nearly as effective as it needed to be. This made it really easy for América to break it and suddenly Gotham was constantly paying the price for playing a high defensive line.

Defensive errors

Not counting a penalty that was incorrectly awarded following contact outside of the penalty area, Gotham uncharacteristically gave up six goals across these two games—let’s take a look at how exactly this ordinarily impenetrable defense was broken down so easily.

The first we saw of Gotham’s defensive vulnerability was in a relatively innocuous moment in the 7th minute of the game.

Defender Emily Sonnett makes a questionable decision here, asking goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger to come in and grab the ball while América forward Scarlett Camberos is on her heels. AKB’s head gets clipped by Camberos’ cleat, but otherwise this play isn’t too consequential.

Less than 15 minutes later, however, Gotham conceded the first goal of the game.

Although this one comes in transition, the Bats actually have the numerical advantage here. What América was able to exploit was that no one from Gotham was in the right shape or position. Tierna Davidson is where the left back should be, which makes Savannah McCaskill responsible for covering for her at center back. McCaskill is easily beaten by Geyse which draws Jess Carter out to cover for her, leaving heaps of space for Scarlett Camberos to make her run into the box. Jaelin Howell and Emily Sonnett are aware of this and try to catch up, but ultimately all the musical chairs allow Camberos to beat everyone in this footrace and get an easy tap in from Geyse’s cross. 

Although that was the only goal in the first half, it was far from the only bad moment from Gotham’s back line. 

Club América almost doubled their lead a few minutes later thanks to this horrendous back pass from Tierna Davidson. The Bats are saved by the offside flag after Geyse was easily able to get ahold of Gotham’s mistake. 

Perhaps the worst moment of the tournament came at the very end of the first half. Sofia Cook has a promising moment on the ball but ultimately loses it, causing a foot race in transition. Altitude is not Gotham’s friend as they scramble back, and they lose big as Geyse has a perfect ball to Scarlett Camberos who is through on goal. AKB makes a very brave save, but potentially also breaks her ribs as Camberos crashes into her. 

Club América retook the lead in the 57th minute.

They once again exploit their speed advantage in transition. Lilly Reale and Jess Carter are, for the most part, able to keep up with Geyse on the left. But Scarlett Camberos outruns all of her defenders centrally and ultimately it’s an easy 0.33 xG chance that finds the back of the net.

This time, it wasn’t losing a footrace in transition. Instead, Gotham has a botched clearance that they are unprepared to deal with, and the defense leaves two (2!!) Club América runners completely unattended right in the middle of the box. Geyse has her pick of the two but at that point, with both through on goal right at the edge of the six-yard box, it doesn’t really matter. Gotham are down 3-1 and officially out of the tournament.

Despite how much Juan Carlos Amorós assured the media that his team was taking the third-place match against Pachuca very seriously, his lineup certainly said otherwise. But let’s take a look at what happened when they conceded anyway.

It starts with Katie Lampson giving the ball away, and then one long ball over the top is all it takes to break down this depleted defense. Emily Sonnett gives it her all, but at that point it’s too little too late.

Here, Gotham is always a beat behind Pachuca as the latter is able to easily slice through Gotham’s lines. It’s a great shot from Charlyn Corral in the end, but that ball never should have made it all the way to her. 

It’s good old getting beat in transition again for Gotham’s final goal against them in this tournament. Aline Gomes (yes, the same Aline Gomes that averaged a goal a season for the North Carolina Courage) has an open shooting lane ahead of her after a defensive misstep from Tierna Davidson and Gotham have once again conceded 3 goals in a game.

Lack of connection

If the depleted oxygen and constant defensive miscues weren’t enough, Gotham was also battling some severe lack of team chemistry during these two games. The team was struggling to string together a few passes, whether it be in defensive moments like this, where they gave up an unnecessary corner…

… or in attacking moments like this, where no one is able to get on the end of a really good ball into the center of the box.

The games were characterized with moments like these. Gotham’s failing defense could have at least been aided by a thriving offense, but with rotation and just general frustration and disorientation, the team wasn’t able to generate much in the attack. A silver lining here is that Gotham was able to win the second ball and recycle this chance, despite all of their shortcomings in this tournament. And another silver lining is Esther scoring her first goal in open play since the Bats’ season opener against Boston Legacy FC.

So despite it all, there were some good moments.

How much should we read into these performances? Well, we’re hoping that the team will pretend these games never happened and move forward. A lot of this can genuinely be attributed to the altitude in Pachuca, and at best this could be a lesson for the team about underestimating the effects of conditions. The defensive struggles were at times atrocious but definitely uncharacteristic, and our hope is that when the team returns to much more familiar NWSL league play they’ll turn right back into the defense that only conceded 5 goals across 10 games. 

Looking ahead to next match

After spending a couple of weeks on the road, Gotham is back at Sports Illustrated Stadium this Sunday, May 31st as they take on the Houston Dash at 3 PM ET, streaming live on the ESPN app. The Dash sit in 10th in NWSL standings, with 4 wins, 2 draws, and 5 losses on the season, and are in good form right now following a 2-2 draw against the San Diego Wave and a 2-1 victory over Angel City in the past week. Rookies like Kat Rader, Kate Faasse, and Leah Klenke have been huge contributors to this team, while USWNT star Avery Patterson has been instrumental in both their defense and their attack. Gotham needs to put this tournament behind them and hopefully regain both offensive and defensive chemistry ahead of this matchup.

Thumbnail courtesy of Gotham FC.