It’s hard to judge a soccer team solely on the results of one match. After all, it’s just one of many matches each season. However, a letdown match can lead to another letdown, and the next thing you know; your team is in a tailspin and heading to the bottom of the NWSL table.
For Gotham FC, last week was just a symptom of the “three steps forward, two steps back” syndrome many teams face, providing additional challenges for the remainder of the 2023 season.
Gotham FC is much improved this season.
It should be noted that Gotham FC is a far better team this season, and their record already reflects this improvement. During the entire 2022 season, Gotham had a record of 4-17-1. That’s not a typo, folks. They had a total of four wins last year altogether. Flash forward a year to the 2023 season, which is five weeks old. Gotham FC sits on a 3-2-0 record with nine total points and holds fifth place in the NWSL.
In just five short weeks, Gotham has moved to within one victory of their entire 2022 season, so vast improvement should now be synonymous with this franchise at this point in the season.
Gotham FC can’t afford to take two steps back from earlier success.
Despite the overall team improvement, Gotham FC this past weekend looked like a squad in disarray at times against a resurging Kansas City Current. The Current has gone through their own team turmoil these past few weeks and seem to have pulled out of the NWSL abyss into a team on a hot streak as of late.
Gotham FC did have scoring chances in the first half against the Current, but efforts by Taylor Smith, Yazmeen Ryan, and Lynn Williams couldn’t connect with the net. At halftime, the score remained 0-0. And then, it happened. Like a Brazilian burst of sheer energy, Debinha found the net not once but twice in a span of four minutes as Gotham FC looked disorganized as they simply got burned. 
There’s time to recover- just not a lot of time.
The clock is ticking on the 2023 NWSL season. While a 3-2-0 record is nothing to press a panic button about currently, Gotham FC needs to start recovering their winning ways to remain competitive in an already-competitive league as the Kansas City Current are rising, and the previously winless Orlando Pride pulled off a convincing 3-1 win over the San Diego Wave FC.
Gotham FC can use the 2023 Challenge Cup play this week to find a way to reverse their fortunes against the North Carolina Courage, as they already have a 1-0 record in Cup competition.
There’s no time like the present to make corrections and get Gotham FC back on a winning track. The alternative is a repeat of last season, and no one is looking for the specter of 2022 to haunt this franchise moving forward continually.
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