A triumphant New York sports turnaround is one win away from culminating in a title.
Gotham FC, which finished in a distant last place in the National Women’s Soccer League one year ago, will play for the championship Saturday night against OL Reign at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium (8 p.m., CBS).
The final features a collision of two sentimental retirement narratives: Gotham defender Ali Krieger, 39, and legendary Reign forward Megan Rapinoe, 38, close friends and two-time World Cup winners with the U.S. Women’s National Team, are playing in their final games.
After NYCFC won the 2021 MLS Cup and the Liberty fell short in this year’s WNBA Finals, amid a local title drought in the traditional Big 4 leagues that’s going on 12 years, Gotham’s renaissance and possibility of an astounding worst-to-first arc should not go overlooked.
“You have two teams that have never won a championship,” Gotham defender Kelley O’Hara told The Post. “One [OL Reign] that has a coach that’s been there for a long time, some players that have been there for years and years, and then you have another team that went from the bottom, hopefully, all the way to the top. I mean, you can’t write a better script than this.”
For years, Gotham FC — an original NWSL franchise (2013) that was known as Sky Blue FC until rebranding in 2021 — was notorious for its dreary home field, substandard training conditions and being spurned by top players and draft picks.
Today, they play home games at Red Bull Arena, have drawn investments from the likes of Kevin Durant, Sue Bird and most recently the Tisch family, and are a destination for free agents under general manager Yael Averbuch West and 2023 Coach of the Year Juan Carlos Amoros.
The rise is mirrored in some ways by the growth of the NWSL at large, which continues to set attendance records — 22,000-plus are expected this weekend at a neutral site — and this week secured a landmark four-year, $240 million broadcast rights deal.
“You can’t even compare them,” said O’Hara, who rejoined the organization this season after a previous stint from 2013-17, of the two eras. “It’s not even worth going through all the differences because it’s just night and day. This league has grown and become more professional throughout all the different clubs. But I think Gotham is one that the difference between what I was experiencing 2013 to what my day-to-day is now with the club is completely different.”
Gotham is led by star winger addition Lynn Williams (team-leading seven goals), along with standouts Midge Purce and Kristie Mewis.
Spain striker Esther Gonzalez joined midseason after winning the World Cup.
Defender Jenna Nighswonger was named Thursday as NWSL Rookie of the Year.
The team’s playoff run as a 6-seed has been anchored by breakout goalkeeper Mandy Haught, who kept clean sheets in a 2-0 win in the opening round and last weekend’s 1-0 semifinal upset of defending champion Portland.
“I think it is indicative of the type of team that we are,” O’Hara said. “We squeaked into the playoffs, if I’m being honest. … And we’re like, alright, this is a new season entirely. We got three games to win and we can call ourselves champions.”
If Gotham and Krieger become champions, it will be at Rapinoe’s expense. Two all-time greats enter — “They’ve had such illustrious careers and have been so successful and have played in a way and represented this country in a way and football in a way that is inspiring to so many,” said O’Hara, their longtime USWNT teammate — and only one leaves with a trophy.
Both leave the league better than they found it.
“In a way, this is why we want to continue to show up and do our job because of the response that we get,” Krieger said this week. “It feels like a final. It feels more important. It feels like people care. It feels that people want to watch and show up and cheer for us.”
