Gotham FC hoped that the international break would solve some of their selection headaches, but Friday brought the news of additional player absences ahead of Saturday’s 1 p.m. home match against Bay FC.
Lead assistant head coach Shaun Harris took charge of Friday’s pre-match press conference in place of head coach Juan Carlos Amorós, who was attending to family duties.
Amoros, Harris and Gotham’s technical staff hoped for better news regarding the status of defenders Mandy Freeman (lower leg) and Bruninha (hamstring), who Harris described as “day-to-day.”
“They’re still day-to-day updates,” Harris stated on Friday afternoon. “They’re training and keep moving and getting a touch on the ball. In terms of when they’re ready to be back, it’s just checking with the medical [staff] each day, seeing how the progress is, but hopefully [they’re] not too far away from a full return.
NWSL Availability Report Lists Reale and Sonnett as Additional Gotham Absences
Yet, Friday’s NWSL Availability Report had Freeman, Bruninha, Lilly Reale (lower leg) and Emily Sonnett (lower leg) all listed as out for Saturday’s match.
With Kayla Duran out for the season due to an ACL injury, Gotham will need to get creative in choosing Saturday’s starting XI.
The club is also monitoring captain Tierna Davidson’s minutes. Davidson played for 46 minutes on April 17 for the United States women’s national team in a 3-0 victory over Japan.
“We’re still managing it as we can, the best we can,” Harris said. “She got some good minutes with the U.S., and now she’s starting to build her minutes back up. It’s something that’s going to progress in the near future. She’s training really well; she feels good. We should hope to see more of Tierna going forward.”
Selection Questions Before Saturday’s Match Against Bay FC
It’s possible that Jaelin Howell could drop to center-back.
With Jess Carter as the only fully fit and natural center-back available, Gotham could push Davidson to her minutes limit and possibly play a back three of Carter, Davidson and Howell in a 3-5-2 or 3-5-1-1 formation.
Alternatively, the Bats could stick with their preferred 4-3-3, but in that case, it’s likely that Midge Purce could play at right-back as she had earlier in the season when injuries piled up. Purce and one of Guro Reiten, Sarah Schupansky or versatile rookie Andrea Kitahata could line up as wing-backs.
Michael Cardamone of Skyscraper Blues mentioned the possibility of Kitahata playing wing-back. The 23-year-old saw action at right-back for the USWNT Under-23 team during the
“Also worth mentioning, Andrea Kitahata did play as a right back with the USWNT U23’s this past window and might see herself in a similar role for Gotham on Saturday,” Cardamone said on Bluesky.
We’re all waiting with anticipation over how Gotham will line up against Bay FC on Saturday afternoon.
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