Hello and welcome back to NWSL Crunchtime. The Cutback’s newsletter for the business end of the National Women’s Soccer League season.
If you missed last week’s NWSL Crunchtime, then get all caught up right here.
The NWSL regular season officially has just five matches remaining. And, thanks to a couple of midweek matches last week, all 16 teams have now played the same number of games. RIP games in hand. You will not be missed.
Let’s get caught up on what you need to know and how it all unfolded.
Gotham clinch, but Shield in balance
With a 2-1 away win over the NC Courage, courtesy of a 90th-minute winner by rookie Jordynn Dudley, Gotham FC became the first team to clinch their spot in the 2026 NWSL playoffs. There are seven more spots up for grabs between now and 1 November.
This is the fourth consecutive season Gotham has made it to the postseason. In addition to attempting to defend their Championship title from last season, they are also trying to top the table in the regular season — thus winning the NWSL Shield — for the first time in their history.
Gotham currently have a five-point lead over the Washington Spirit in second and a six-point lead on the San Diego Wave in third. The next two weeks will tell us a lot about Gotham’s Shield credentials. Gotham will face Angel City FC and then the Spirit in two of the most highly anticipated matches of the season.
Will Gotham take their foot off the pedal with their playoffs place clinched? Will we see more rotation over the next few weeks? Or will an NWSL Shield and playoff momentum provide the motivation to keep performing? It’s all to play for at the top.
ACFC are piping hot
Speaking of Angel City…
Believe it or not, they are THE in-form team in the NWSL right now. The Los Angeles-based club are unbeaten in five, having won four and drawn one.
The latest was a one-sided 3-0 away win over the Utah Royals. While that result looks massive on paper, it should be noted that the Royals had to play 66 minutes with nine players.
Sveindís Jónsdóttir scored her eighth of the season this past weekend, while summer signing Ally Sentnor is now up to five goals for ACFC after she converted a third penalty in as many weeks.
Also, shout-out to ACFC attacker Maiara, who was again called into the Brazil squad for their upcoming friendlies against Argentina. The 22-year-old from Itapiranga is enjoying the best season of her career, and co-leads ACFC on goals scored with Jónsdóttir.
Elsewhere on The Cutback this week, I took a deeper look at what has been going so right for Angel City recently — particularly since the club decided to part ways with head coach Alex Straus during the summer, placing Leif Gunnar Smerud in interim charge.
Bay’s English connection
On Monday, former Chelsea head of women’s football Paul Green was officially unveiled by Bay FC as the club’s new chief football officer. Tasked with the same role he performed to such a high level in the WSL, where Chelsea won 19 trophies in 13 years, this is a major hire for a club that is yet to match on-pitch performance with off-pitch ambition.
“What attracted me to this club was the ambition, the vision and the opportunity to help shape its next chapter,” Green said. “The foundations here are solid, and we have a tremendous opportunity to develop something special and build a team that the Bay Area and our fans can be proud of.”
Green joins a cohort of esteemed English football minds who have migrated over to the Bay Area in the last year. He will be working under Bay Collective CEO Kay Cossington, who was previously the women’s technical director at the FA and helped build the Lionesses into what they are today. Reporting to Green is Emma Coates, the former England U19 and U23 head coach, whom Cossington hired last offseason.
Twelve points outside the playoffs, Bay’s season is already effectively over. This was a project when Cossington and Coates signed on and, nearly a year later, that hasn’t changed. Green has a job on his hands to bolster a roster that is full of promise but lacking in elite players at their peak. Bay currently have the second-youngest squad in the NWSL, with an average age of just over 25.
Mel C(hicago Stars)
Damn. Last week, we were laying flowers on the coffin of the Chicago Stars 2026 season. This week, Mel C (yes, that Mel C from the Spice Girls) wore a Stars shirt for her gig in the Windy City.
The reason behind this turnaround? Well, it must be the arrival of new chief soccer officer Vlatko Andonovski, who joined the NWSL’s bottom side last week after mutually parting ways with KC on 10 September. The Vlatko effect is strong. The man gets to work.
Lauded as one of the greatest football team builders and coaches in NWSL history, there really is no better person to help try and resurrect your team in this league than Andonovski.
Speaking to ESPN, Andonovski said: “I get excited with projects, and Chicago will very much be a project.” And he’s right. There is no bigger task than the woeful, head-coachless Stars right now.
Speaking to the media last week, you could tell he was excited to build the club in his image. Team president Karen Leetzow confirmed as much, saying Andonovski would have the final say in sporting decisions. Her job is to empower him, not to get in his way. That felt pointed after his sudden exit from another Midwestern NWSL team.
What to watch out for
This upcoming weekend, all eyes will be on the playoff ding-dong between the KC Current and the Denver Summit [12:30 p.m. ET U.S. / 4:30 p.m. BST].
This clash is eighth versus 10th, with Denver in great form and pushing hard to crash the playoff picture after a slow start to the season. Due to their superior goal difference, a win would see the Summit leapfrog the Current in the table.
Don’t count out the hit-and-miss Current just yet, though. At CPKC Stadium, the Current have one of the best records in NWSL history. It has been over two years since they lost at home in the regular season and their last defeat — to the Orlando Pride in July 2024 — is their only home loss since they opened the stadium that same year (W27-D9-L1).