Gary Gibson
soccerovergotham@gmail.com
It's really here! The challenge cup is upon us. Gotham FC heads south on Saturday night to face off against the Courage.
Here are the questions I have for this club in this matchup after receiving the injury report.
What will Gotham's midfield look like come game time? At full strength, Gotham FC's midfield is as good as any in the league. However, we still don't know what the extent or the nature of lynchpin Allie Long's absence. In this case, Gotham is well covered. Both captain Zerboni and Cudjoe can fill the 6 and 8 roles respectively. Also, rookie Taryn Torres is a promising player with similar attributes to Long. Can fill in there as well.
However, the absence of Mewis is troubling. Gotham lacked a true 10 last season and it showed throughout. During the off-season Gotham shed all of the players that attempted to fill that role (Thiney, Lee and Lloyd). Gotham only added Mewis this off-season as a true number ten. Gotham did draft a player that was a 8/10 in Raleigh Loughman. But that player decided against signing with Gotham.
Who fills that spot is a mystery. It's possible that you see a spine of Torres, Cudjoe and Zerboni in some order. In that case Gotham definitely loses a lot of offensive creativity and Midge Purce will be forced to create for herself like she had to last season.
Less worried about Onumonu's absence. Paige Monaghan is healthy and could slide up top as well as rookie Cameron Tucker. That would open the wide attacking midfielder role to Kawasumi.
The last question mark for this roster is who is starting at center back. This is a good problem to have when you have 4 starting center backs but only 2 or possibly 3 spots available. Honestly, it's a pick em. Kreiger, Lewandowski, Johnson and Freeman are worthy of being included. This is not a concern at all. But just interesting.
Overall, not the ideal starting 11 for Gotham that we hoped. But they should be able to get a point on the road in Cary.