What Happened: An FA Cup final reunion and are Gotham back?
Flo Lloyd-Hughes takes a look at some of the big stories in women's football and highlights the latest pieces to read on The Cutback
Welcome to the latest edition of What Happened, The Cutback’s weekly newsletter that sums up some of the big stories from the weekend of women’s football.
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The magic of the cup was well and truly alive over the weekend as the semi-finals of the FA Cup took place in glorious sunshine. We had Chelsea-Liverpool on Saturday followed by a Manchester derby on Sunday. We’re not set for a rematch of the 2023 FA Cup Final as Chelsea will take on Manchester United on 18 May.
I have unfortunately been missing all the good weather as I’m away in New York at the moment where the rain hasn’t stopped and the temperature has barely gone above 13 degrees. The sun did manage to turn up in New Jersey for Gotham-North Carolina Courage on Sunday, more on that big win for Juan Carlos Amoros’ side below.
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In today’s issue: A Wembley reunion and a long-awaited win for Gotham.
United in dreamland
Manchester United continued their season-long dominance over City with a comfortable 2-0 win in their semi-final clash. Having beaten City 4-2 in the WSL earlier in the season, and experienced other recent cup victories - albeit not in the League Cup this season - United have generally been on the up in these derby matchups.
However, on this occasion, it didn’t feel like a fair fight as City were once again wounded. On top of all their long-term absentees (Bunny Shaw, Lauren Hemp, Alex Greenwood), they were without Vivianne Miedema - now out for the season - Jill Roord and Aoba Fujino.
City then went and lost Mary Fowler 25 minutes into this game. It’s hard to not let injuries become the entire narrative of City’s season but at this point, it feels absolutely relentless for Nick Cushing’s side. There’s a new casualty every week and even more pressure being put on the younger players like Khiara Keating, Gracie Prior, Lily Murphy and Naomi Layzell. A huge summer of recruitment is needed to boost this squad.
While City were damaged goods, United could stroll to a dominant win. Celin Bizet’s goal within the first six minutes set the tone and with Fowler off the pitch and receiving treatment, United had the numbers to make the most of poor City defending and grab a second through a Grace Clinton header around 15 minutes later.
City never got going on the ball and while Kerolin did her best to create something out of nothing, United never looked troubled, outside of a sensational Phallon Tullis-Joyce double save from a Yui Hasegawa free kick.
Even though this wasn’t the usual Manchester derby challenge for United, they still deserve a lot of credit for reaching Wembley for a third successive season. Plenty of the WSL’s most established teams have never made it that far and even fewer have gone on to defend an FA Cup crown.
United’s season hasn’t been full of positive storylines, partly due to the negative energy surrounding the entire club, but a return to the FA Cup final should be celebrated, add European football and that is a successful campaign.
Relentless Chelsea
There were about 30 minutes on Saturday where we looked like we might have an FA Cup upset.
Liverpool got themselves into an early lead against Chelsea at Kingsmeadow thanks to an Olivia Smith goal on the break in the 21st minute. But, as we all know, when you’re playing Chelsea in a knockout game you’re going to need a lot more than that to tame the beast.
Chelsea pushed for an equaliser before half-time and got it thanks to a typically tenacious Erin Cuthbert. Once Chelsea were on even terms the tie was only going on way. Taylor Hinds did hit the bar in the second half but that was the best of Liverpool’s chances. In the end, it was the in-form Aggie Beever-Jones that scored the stoppage-time winner for Chelsea.
The league champions-in-waiting are completely dialled in at the moment and even minor setbacks in games rarely trouble them. We saw it in the League Cup final comeback and in the impressive Champions League quarter-final second leg.
Chelsea have the luxury of squad depth which allows them to swing games in their favour. But beyond that, there is also belief and energy from the players and head coach as they see out an already impressive 2024-25 season.
In a few weeks’ time, they could be finishing this campaign with a domestic treble. However, we all know that the real marker of success will be getting their hands on the Champions League trophy.
Gotham finally get a win
On the other side of the Atlantic, Gotham got their long-awaited first win of the season against North Carolina Courage.
A late first-half blitz from Esther Gonzales and a quick goal from Lilly Reale at the start of the second period blew away the Courage. There was a consolation in stoppage time that made the scoreline slightly less damaging for the away side but in the end it was a deserved and desperately needed 3-1 win for Gotham.
Even though she didn’t get on the scoresheet, this game was all about the return of Midge Purce who stepped on the pitch for the first time since an ACL injury in March 2024.
Purce got an unbelievable reception from the home crowd and there was an emotional moment between all the players as she took the captain’s armband for the last 20 minutes of the game.
Gotham needed this result, as Theo Lloyd-Hughes discussed in his piece last week, it’s been a rocky start to the season for the east coast side, with no wins in their first three games. Even though they’ve lost some big names through injury - Rose Lavelle is recovering from ankle surgery and Tierna Davidson unfortunately just did her ACL - Gotham’s squad is packed with familiar talent.
Geyse has just arrived on loan from Manchester United, Olympics sensation Gabi Portilho has been making a small impact and they also have former Benfica and Lyon forward Jessica Silva in the squad.
This will hopefully be the start of a good run for the 2023 NWSL Champions.
That’s it from me this week. See you next time!