Women's FA Cup quarter-final roundup: Brighton make history, City, Chelsea and Liverpool progress
Dario Vidošić's side deliver shock of the round with 2-0 win over Arsenal
The FA Cup campaign this season hasn’t provided many major upsets, but Brighton’s win over Arsenal was definitely the biggest shock so far.
Fresh off progressing to the Champions League semi-finals with a 3-2 aggregate win over Chelsea, it seemed a simple task on paper for Arsenal to beat Brighton at Meadow Park.
However, Brighton, who are currently sixth in the WSL table, immediately put pressure on the Gunners, and their high press disrupted Arsenal’s attack. The score was goalless at halftime, but switching from a back five to a back four in the second half allowed Brighton to move higher up the pitch, and Madison Haley and Caitlin Hayes took the chances that came their way.
It was sluggish performance from a much-changed Arsenal team following the midweek Champions League game. The result means Arsenal’s wait for a 15th FA Cup trophy continues. The Gunners haven’t reached the semi-finals since 2022 and their last win came back in 2016.
Brighton’s results this season have been inconsistent, but the squad produced a fantastic performance at a crucial moment. Now they’re dreaming of a first FA Cup final at Wembley, but first they need to get past Liverpool in the semi-final.
Teenage heroics
Two teenagers delivered when it mattered most in the quarter-finals: 18-year-old Zara Shaw for Liverpool and 19-year-old Veerle Buurman for Chelsea.
Liverpool-Charlton was goalless for 115 minutes, but Shaw was the one to break the deadlock.
Her goal came from a scrappy finish from a corner kick but it was enough to send Liverpool through to the semi-finals. It was Shaw’s first appearance in 414 days since suffering a second ACL injury of her career.
Coming on in extra time and scoring the winner was a special moment for Shaw. she told TNT Sports after the game: “For those who have been close to me over the past few seasons, it has been really tough. I've gone through things that I didn't think I would ever have to go through, not once but twice. This makes it all worth it, this is why you go through the hard times.”
In Chelsea’s clash against Spurs, they were looking for a late winner to avoid going into extra time at 1-1 and despite the Blues having many forwards with the ability to score goals in pressure moments, it was a young defender who stepped up. Buurman, who has had excellent performances and has shown maturity all season, got her first goal in a Chelsea shirt in the 85th minute from the edge of the area.
Manchester City see it through
Manchester City secured a 1-0 victory over Birmingham City to advance to the semi-finals, but the lack of goals was unusual for a team that has so dominant in the WSL this season.
The match was a tight contest between the current leaders of the WSL and WSL2, and overall, City lacked the clinical edge in the final third, a sentence that has rarely been said this season given the 54 goals they’ve scored across 19 league games.
Bunny Shaw’s goal in the eighth minute was enough to see City through. Despite controlling possession and creating plenty of opportunities, only four of City’s 15 shots were on target. Man City’s set pieces have been a key asset this season , but they struggled in this match and were unable to convert any of their five corners into goals. Birmingham’s keeper Lucy Thomas made some important saves to prevent the scoreline from being greater, but her team also did not find a way to break through and level the score.
The magic of the FA Cup is that it allows lower teams to prove themselves on bigger stages, and Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic, who are first and second in WSL, respectively, have demonstrated that they are more than capable of competing against the top teams. As it stands, both sides will be promoted from WSL2 as the WSL expands to 14 teams next season, but the title race hasn’t been decided yet. The two teams will face off on the final day of the season on 2 May.
The FA Cup semi-finals line up is set as Chelsea taken on Manchester City and Liverpool host Brighton will take place on 9 and 10 May.