This week on The IX Sports Podcast Soccer Edition, host Kathleen Gier and her guest, IX Sports reporter Thomas Costello, break down the Challenge Cup and the imminent return of Sam Kerr to the National Women’s Soccer League.
Sam Kerr returns
This week Gotham FC announced that Sam Kerr has signed with the team, confirming reporting from The Athletic earlier this month. Kerr, the all-time joint top-scorer at Chelsea FC in the Women’s Soccer League, will be making a return to the NWSL after six years with Chelsea. Kerr previously played for Blue Sky FC in the NWSL, which is now Gotham.
The contract Kerr signed goes through 2030.
“It’s just an embarrassment of riches, I would say, at Gotham now,” Costello said, rattling off some of the big names on the team. Gotham now boasts Jordynn Dudley, Jaedyn Shaw, Jaelin Howell, Rose Lavelle and Kerr on their roster.
Challenge Cup
Gier and Costello also took some time to break down the Challenge Cup, a showdown this year between Gotham FC and the Kansas City Current in Columbus, Ohio.
The Challenge Cup pits the previous year’s regular season record winner against the previous year’s champion. The Current won the regular season last year, and Gotham walked away with the Championship.
Gier said that the Current “looked pretty solid” for the first few minutes of the game but then they “just kind of looked lost” for the rest of the match, which Gotham FC won 2-0.
Costello concurred with his own assessment.
“Kansas City just kind of got demoralized early in the second half. They were doing a lot of substitutions on top of trying to come back at that point when it’s just 1-0 … but yeah, Gotham didn’t really look too challenged the whole night,” Costello said.
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