Gotham FC shows promise to start its super-team era, but Alex Morgan steals the show for San Diego

Crystal Dunn and Tierna Davidson showed why their arrivals have made the reigning NWSL champions even more powerful, but the biggest star of all scored the Challenge Cup's only goal.

Alex Morgan (left) battling for the ball against Emily Sonnett, one of Gotham FC's star newcomers this year.Read moreElsa / Getty Images

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published March 16, 2024, 7:35 a.m. ET

HARRISON, N.J. — The opening night of a big New York show isn’t always perfect. But when you know the stars are on stage, you might forgive the occasional imperfection.

Such as, in the case of Friday night’s NWSL Challenge Cup game at Red Bull Arena, a lack of goals for 87 minutes between Gotham FC and the San Diego Wave.

This was the first time Gotham took the field for an official game since the reigning champions upped the ante further by assembling the NWSL’s latest super team. There was much for the crowd of 14,241 to like, but not the final score: a 1-0 loss to the best team in last year’s regular season.

Simply reciting Gotham’s roster is a feat. Midge Purce, newcomer Tierna Davidson, and Spanish World Cup winner Esther González started. Crystal Dunn and Emily Sonnett, two more of the big four arrivals, and last year’s rookie of the year Jenna Nighswonger came off the bench.

Rose Lavelle and Lynn Williams didn’t play because of minor injuries suffered during the recent Concacaf Gold Cup, but they were on hand to say hello to teammates and fans.

Across the field stood a club that shot straight to elite status as an expansion team two years ago, and has stayed there. The Wave are powered by American soccer’s biggest star of all, Alex Morgan; and two of the leading candidates to inherit her title, centerback Naomi Girma and dazzling playmaker Jaedyn Shaw.

Morgan arrived fresh off reminding everyone that she’s still got it at 34, with a series of outstanding Gold Cup outings after being called in at the last minute as an injury replacement. And she did it again here, snatching an 88th-minute winner with an inch-perfect header off a corner kick.

“Going into the Gold Cup last-minute definitely put a little bit of a kink in things, but I felt really ready, I felt game fit and ready to play,” Morgan said. “Having an opportunity to win two championships and being able to accomplish that in one week, I mean, yeah, it’s wild.”

That was a nice flex, even in Morgan’s ever-polite tone of voice. (At least when she’s off the field.) So was this: it was Morgan’s 11th all-time goal against Gotham, the most she’s scored against any NWSL team.

How fitting that the U.S. women’s soccer team’s biggest Taylor Swift fan threw a spanner in Gotham’s new era, not far from where Morgan and Swift famously shared a stage at MetLife Stadium after the 2015 World Cup triumph.

There were plenty of signs, though, that Gotham will be as good as anticipated: stylish spells of possession and breaks forward, and a 12-7 advantage in shots. González’s one-on-one duels with Girma were worth the price of admission on their own.

González lit up the preseason with two goals vs. Racing Louisville in the final of an exhibition tournament in Colombia. The trip was surely expensive, a sign of how much spending there is in the NWSL these days, but also priceless for the chemistry it built.

For much of the preseason, including the Colombia trip, Gotham was without the seven players who were on the U.S. Gold Cup team: Davidson, Dunn, Lavelle, Nighswonger, Purce, Sonnett, and Williams. That naturally made it hard for the club’s squad as a whole to build chemistry.

“Honestly, I’m amazed that we were able to really play a lot of great soccer today, with having two days back together,” Dunn said. “I think that speaks to [the] coaching staff just staying committed to helping us in this transition.”

But the U.S. group’s time in California also helped strengthen their bonds, those that already existed and those that grew and now serve dual purposes.

“I was just talking to Jenna about how great it was to be able to play with her as my left back in some of the games at the Gold Cup,” said Davidson, who as a left centerback was next to Nighswonger often. “We’re getting those minutes there to be able to come back here and hopefully use that relationship that we’re building at the national team here as well.”

Purce couldn’t help being optimistic, even after a loss.

“I was surprised by how well we gelled together on the field, to be quite honest,” she said. “You have practices and things work out in practice, but you never know how it’s going to come off in a game. And for that to be our first display in terms of what the footy looked like, it’s really exciting, and it makes me pumped for the rest of the season.”

The Challenge Cup is separate from the regular season, which starts for Gotham next week with a trip to her former club the Portland Thorns (5 p.m., ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+). The atmosphere at Providence Park is always thunderous, and it should be especially so for Dunn’s first game back there.

But first, there is a much-needed week of practice with everyone finally together.

“We’re super happy that they are back because that’s going to give us time to be with them, for them to adapt to the [club’s] style,” manager Juan Carlos Amorós said. “And I’m very happy, I’m very excited to see what these players can bring, because on and off the pitch, they’ve been brilliant.”