This week on The IX Sports Podcast Soccer Edition, host Kathleen Gier is joined by Gotham FC Anumita Jain, author of The Bat Signal newsletter, to talk about New York’s dominant NWSL team.
The pair started by discussing Gotham’s impressive roster. Jain said that the coaching staff at Gotham have been able to bring in so much top talent, in part, because they sell athletes on how the club will help them improve their game.
“The amount of star power that they’ve brought in is just wild, and they have a lot of personality too, which I like,” Gier said.
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“The players are great, and the fact that they’re having a lot of fun, I think, speaks a lot to the environment that the club is able to create at the team, like even in such a high pressure, like situation, they still manage to have a good time. I think that’s awesome,” Jain said.
Jain said that the team’s success lies largely with their commitment to defense.
“Every single player on the pitch is defending. That includes the forwards, right?” Jain said.
“So the forwards are trying to win possession of the ball, like all the way up the pitch. And so what that does is that, like when your defenders are focused or have to spend all their energy making sure that they don’t give away the ball, then they can’t even like progress the ball forward, you know, and so the ball doesn’t even get to your forwards … So the forwards are a huge part of this defense,” Jain explained.
Also on this week’s episode, Gier and Jain check in on the rest of the NWSL a month before the scheduled start of the playoffs. The Utah Royals and San Diego Wave have been making some noise — but can Angel City FC join the top of the pack? Tune in this week to find out!
Make sure to subscribe to The IX Sports Podcast for in-depth coverage of women’s soccer, hockey and basketball; and tune in each weekday morning for a quick overview of the biggest headlines on Women’s Sports Daily, like WNBA news and PWHL expansion updates.
