This wasn’t a coach searching for moral victories.
Juan Carlos Amorós didn’t once use that phrase, or even allude to it.
It was, however, a coach who wouldn’t let one result change how he feels about his team or ignore what his eyes told him.
This was not Gotham FC’s lopsided April 20 loss to the Washington Spirit, even though Sunday night’s match against the same team produced an identical 2-0 margin at humid Red Bull Arena. This was different. His team was shorthanded, down two starters, playing its third game in eight days. Then, it was forced to go the second half short a player after left wing Yazmeen Ryan was issued a pair of yellow cards, an automatic ejection.
It still was the better side in the opening half and nearly cut its deficit in half late when it was given a penalty shot Katie Stengel couldn’t convert in the 89th minute.
“I think the performance, at least when it was 11 vs. ll, and even when we went down to 10, we were in total control of the game,” Amorós said after Gotham’s five-game win streak was snapped. “We needed to be better in the final third to put in some chances that changes games, and we didn’t. When you consider the first chance they had, they scored.”
Gotham entered the match between the third- and fourth-place teams in the league hot, without a loss in its previous nine contests. It had allowed five goals in that span. It had conceded 11 all year, tied for the fewest in the league with the Orlando Pride.
But under an oppressive heat — the game was pushed back five hours for safety reasons and there were water breaks in each half — the high-scoring Spirit cooled down Gotham. Courtney Brown and Trinity Rodman each scored, and Gotham had to play a man down in the second half after Ryan’s two yellow cards.
Gotham (8-4-3, 27 points) was the better team over the first 45-plus minutes. The defending NWSL champions were mostly dominant in midfield, controlling possession. It attempted six of the eight shots on goal, and the first four. It had myriad opportunities, carrying play on the Spirit end.
“We just needed to finish some of those chances. The domination was there, we were creating chances from set pieces as well as a few headers in the box,” Amorós said.
One mistake put them in a hole, a giveaway by fullback Emily Sonnett in midfield that resulted in the lone goal of the first half. The Spirit (11-3-1, 34 points) took advantage. Croix Bethune went on the counterattack, setting up Brown, whose right-footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner beat goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger.
It was the low point of a frustrating half for Gotham. It was whistled for three yellow cards, two charged to Ryan. In the ninth minute of stoppage time, after she had to briefly come out following a hard fall, Ryan was given a second yellow for re-entering before being given permission by the referee. The crowd exploded in boos then, and throughout the second half.
Amorós opted to look at the bright side, and look forward to meeting the Spirit again down the road.
“To be a champion, we know you have to beat the best, and they’re one of the best teams at the moment,” he said. “We will be welcoming it.”
