Gotham FC lost their FIFA Women's Champions Cup semi-final, falling to SC Corinthians Paulista 1-0 at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium in their first competitive match of the 2026 season.
The dream of Gotham capturing the first of FIFA's new major international women's club trophies died due to an 83rd-minute strike from Corinthians captain Gabriela Zanotti. Gotham couldn't find any attacking joy while playing without their leading goalscorer from last season, former Ballon d'Or nominee Esther González.
Now, Gotham miss out on playing a potential intercontinental Final at the Emirates Stadium, though they still will play in the Women's Champions Cup Third-Place Game on Sunday, February 1.
That's not the result many would have expected, so as you process this surprise defeat to Corinthians, here are 4 Thoughts at the final whistle on Gotham's first bad result of the new season.
Andrew Leigh
1. Rough start to 2026
For most of their loss to Corinthians, Gotham very much looked like a team still in their preseason. They dominated possession, 70% to 30% for most of the match, yet Gotham did very little to truly threaten Corinthians goalkeeper Letícia Izidoro, only putting a few tame shots on target over 90 minutes.
Corinthians found success letting Gotham have possession and then bending but not breaking defensively, often blocking hopeful shots or crosses into the box attempted by Gotham players. Gotham were stymied at every turn by the Brazilian club, with no mixing and matching of personnel attempted by Gotham coach Juan Carlos Amoros enough to find his team an attacking spark.
Gotham looked in control for most of this match and seemed content to keep chipping away at the Corinthians defense, but that strategy fell apart with one charge forward by Corinthians in the 82nd minute.
A ball that couldn't be dealt with by Gotham defender Jess Carter fell to 40-year-old Corinthians captain Gabriela Zanotti and her bouncing shot on goal eluded the usually sure-handed Ann-Katrin Berger, deflected into the net by the Gotham keeper to give Corinthians the only goal they'd need to advance to the Women's Champions Cup Final on Sunday.
Corinthians goal, via @DAZNWFootball on Twitter.
2. Corinthians out-Gotham's Gotham
The first half of Gotham-Corinthians felt best described as "stodgy," a word popular among the local populace who turned out to watch these teams meet at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium in London.
Both teams are still in preseason preparation mode, not just Gotham, but Corinthians better executed a "grind-it-out" game plan that involved playing physical, being stout defensively, and being opportunistic when a chance came their way: A formula that sounds a lot like how Gotham played during their trophy-filled 2025 season.
The rust showed for both teams in the opening half, with lots of fouls and not much cohesive play on display from either side. Gotham was one of the most physical NWSL teams in 2025, committing 12.4 fouls per-90 in league games last season, the second-most behind Utah Royals.
It felt like Corinthians wanted to match that physicality, which resulted in the two teams getting whistled for a ton of combined fouls, and with referee Tess Olofsson pulling out three yellow cards before the break, and four total by the final whistle.
Corinthians put Gotham under real pressure on the counterattack a few times in the opening half, a side-effect of the Bats dominating the possession but leaving a few gaps at the back that could be exploited when that possession turned over.
3. Esther's absence felt
Esther González is missing from the FIFA Women's Champions Cup while away from Gotham on parental leave, and her presence up top was missed badly in this semi-final. Gotham tried Jaedyn Shaw at center-forward as part of an attacking three, flanked by Gabi Portilho and Midge Purce on the left and right wings, respectively.
Portilho didn't make much of an impact against her former Corinthians team and had to come off early with an injury, replaced by Katie Stengel in the 50th minute.
Purce, back on a new contract with Gotham, got picked out by teammates a few times while in space on the right and free to run at the Corinthians defense. Purce's opportunities to attack and play crossing into the middle of the 18-yard-box increased in the second half, but her attempts were often blocked, or didn't result in clean looks in front of goal for any of her Gotham teammates.
Jaedyn Shaw had freedom to roam and seemed to pop up everywhere in the opening half while trying to get on the ball, but her involvement faded in the second half. None of the five changes made by Amorós could unlock a Corinthians defense that stood strong and made their one goal stand up.
4. Million-dollar mistake
Ann-Katrin Berger is one of the top active goalkeepers in all of women's soccer but she probably would want a second chance to deal with that Gabriela Zanotti strike that eliminated Gotham from contention for the Women's Champions Cup.
Berger didn't have much of anything to do in this match as her teammates held onto the ball and tried unsuccessfully to break down the Corinthians defense, with the Gotham goalkeeper only having to make one super-routine save on a tame shot directly at her attempted during the first half.
Was the lack of action a factor in how slow Berger was to react on the winning strike from Zanotti? The ball took a bounce before Berger attempted to parry it wide, but her parry instead put the ball directly into the net, a stunning turn given how little Corinthians had done in attack to that point of the second half. It felt in real-time like a shot that Berger would want a do-over on, and I doubt watching replays of it over and over again will change that.
The goal was costly in the micro of costing Gotham a result in this first intercontinental cup match, and costly in the dollar sense: By advancing, Corinthians are guaranteed to earn a minimum $1 million prize, while Gotham are forced to settle for a $200,000 reward for losing in the semi-finals.
