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NJ/NY Gotham FC might have played their first competitive match of the year, but the truth is that they are still in the preseason. Wednesday's loss to Sport Club Corinthians Paulista in the FIFA Women's Champions Cup semifinals was not ideal. However, it was expected, even with the team playing decent football for their first game of 2026. Their last match was in November, and there has not even been a month of preseason.
The loss does not mean that Gotham FC is a fraud or a bad team. Rather, the timing of the tournament was not ideal. And while the focus will be on the third-place match, there are other items to discuss. Here is the latest Gotham FC news roundup.
Crystal Dunn has retired
Former Gotham FC player and USWNT star Crystal Dunn only played for the Bats for one year. It did not go as well as anyone would have liked, since she eventually did not finish out the season. Nevertheless, it was still great that the versatile player played for her local club during her career.
And now, Dunn shocked the world when she announced her retirement from soccer at 33. Her reason was due to family, which is a reasonable reason. Although her playing time with Paris Saint-Germain Football Club dropped significantly. Hence, it is possible that the decrease in the last few years also aided in her decision.
The Long Island native will be missed in the beautiful game. The former Gotham player deserves to enjoy her next chapter.
Gotham's third-place game
Since the Bats lost in the semifinals on Wednesday, the team will play for third place on Sunday. The Bats will take on ASFAR, and truly anything can happen.
Gotham fans did get some good news, though, regarding the upcoming fixture. After they had to watch the international coverage via DAZN, fans can watch the next matchup on the CBS Sports Golazo Network. This means that it took some time for someone in the United States to step up and provide coverage. But at least CBS Sports stepped up when they did.
Meanwhile, the club also revealed in the announcement about where fans can watch the game that they will take a break before resuming the preseason. Hopefully, the break will not be too long.
Gotham FC and social media
After Wednesday's loss, Gotham FC was sadly subjected to abuse and some unkind words on social media. Corinthians fans, and even some NWSL fans, attacked the social media accounts. Not only did they spam under posts, but they called the Bats bad words that cannot be repeated. There were a few who posted poor-taste 9/11 photos, as if to compare to the loss.
Thankfully, the awful stuff posted was a small portion of the comments. There were other things said, like how the NWSL is bad, Gotham is fraudulent, etc. But a lot of the poor comments occurred on Instagram, which led the club to turn off comments and delete them. To make things worse, much of the abuse was directed right at the players.
It is a shame that this happened. Gotham FC lost, and posting about that is fair game. But going after the team in a cruel manner is awful. Be better, Corinthians fans.