01/28/26 09:22:00
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01/28 09:21 CST Brazil's Corinthians defeats Gotham FC 1-0 in Women's Champions
Cup semifinal
Brazil's Corinthians defeats Gotham FC 1-0 in Women's Champions Cup semifinal
LONDON (AP) --- Corinthians captain Gabi Zanotti scored late as her team beat
Gotham FC 1-0 in the semifinals of the inaugural Women's Champions Cup
intercontinental competition on Wednesday.
The 40-year-old Zanotti stopped a cross on her chest, then shot the dropping
ball with her left boot to the right of Gotham's German international
goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, who got her hands to it but couldn't stop it
slipping through in the 82nd minute.
It had been a scrappy game of few clear-cut chances for either team.
New York-based Gotham, which qualified for the inaugural FIFA event by winning
the first CONCACAF Champions Cup, had pushed hard for the opener in the second
half. Jaelin Howell forced Leticia in the Corinthians goal into action, then
fired another good chance high and wide.
But Corinthians defended smartly and the Brazilian team made it count with the
38-year-old Tamires producing the cross for the oldest player on the field to
score the goal that mattered.
Gotham made a desperate push for a late equalizer with Berger going up for a
free kick deep in stoppage time, when one of the Corinthians backroom staff was
sent off, presumably for calling too frenetically for the full-time whistle.
Jaedyn Shaw sent the free kick to the right of the post in the last action of
the game.
It was Gotham's first competitive match since winning the NWSL championship as
the eighth seed in November.
Gotham's Gabi Portilho needed treatment after being kicked on her right foot
before the break and eventually had to go off early in the second half. Team
captain Rose Lavelle also went off injured in stoppage time.
Corinthians, the Copa Libertadores champion, awaits the winner between Arsenal
and African champion ASFAR of Rabat, Morocco in the second semifinal later.
Both the final and third-place match are to be played Sunday at Arsenal's
stadium, with $2.3 million going to the competition winner. The runner-up takes
home $1 million.
The six-team Champions Cup was created as an event for club teams. It builds on
a growing number of regional club competitions, led by the success of the UEFA
Women's Champions League.
Two continental champions were eliminated in earlier rounds: Auckland United
from Oceania and Wuhan Chegu Jiangda representing Asia.
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