Photos courtesy of Washington Spirit and Gotham FC
The 2025 NWSL season reaches its climax this weekend with Gotham FC and Washington Spirit meeting in the NWSL Championship. Both teams survived bruising playoff paths — knocking out the likes of Kansas City, Louisville, Orlando, and Portland to earn their place on the biggest stage.
The final will be contested between two teams that house some of the best talents in the league, with the likes of Trinity Rodman, Jaedyn Shaw, Rose Lavelle, and Croix Bethune all set to take part. The biggest battle will take place in the middle of the park.
Each finalist finished the regular season in contrasting fashion. The Spirit remained around the second/third spot for much of the season and ended up with a four-point advantage over third-place Portland Thorns. However, for Gotham, their last five games featured just one win, two draws, and two losses. In fact, they barely made the playoffs, finishing just one point above the drop zone.
The two teams’ midfields are arguably the most vital cogs in the machine that determine the success of the defensive and offensive lines. Gotham’s Shaw and Lavelle, as well as Washington Spirit’s Bethune and Hal Hershfelt, are all key figures in making their team play thorough and clean football. Their performances will likely decide the result, and how much each can nullify the other will be key. However, Gotham’s offensive line is undoubtedly a dangerous proposition for the Spirit, and there’s a case to be made for how just as lethal their midfield can be, something the Spirit will need to be wary of.
Despite their inconsistency entering the playoffs, Gotham has one of the most dynamic midfields in the league — a threat that only grew with Shaw’s arrival from North Carolina. Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós uses a structure that pushes both Shaw and Lavelle high between the lines, while Jaelin Howell anchors behind them and dictates the build-up. It gives Gotham a clear identity: aggressive, vertical, and designed to feed their wide attackers early.
The shape resembles a 4-3-3 formation, with Howell positioned at the base of midfield, playing as an anchor and often dropping between the center-backs as the first ball receiver. This creates a 3-2 build-up structure, where the two center-backs push wide. One of Lavelle and Shaw will then drop into space to pick up the second pass into midfield before Howell advances to push the line higher. At times, one of the attacking players will drop into the middle to help create an overload or break even the numbers in midfield.
The sequence below shows centerback Jess Carter with the ball while Howell, Gabi Portillho, and Lavelle occupy the spaces in between the four Pride midfielders pressing the Gotham back line. Howell sees the space between the attacking and midfield lines and looks to drive in. With no obvious route through the middle, the ball is sent cross-field to rightback Mandy Freeman, and Gotham then moves it forward.
The main takeaway is that the buildup patterns are similar. It involves Howell dropping in to receive or initiate the buildup and two forward-minded players dropping deep to collect the ball from the second phase of play. At times, striker Esther Gonzalez drops very deep to help. Against Orlando Pride, Gotham struggled to play their usual buildup, which instead meant they had to go down the channels directly through the centerbacks (in the above case, Carter) or the goalkeeper. Portilho and Midge Purce were closed down frequently, so it made it harder for Gotham to create chances.
Often, Gotham’s main threat comes from their wide players. When one of the two No. 10s gets on the ball, their task is to play in one of the three attacking players on the ball to create goalscoring chances through wide one-on-ones or, most often, central channel passes. Both wide players do well cutting inside and shooting, and playing in the central channels.
Though Purce enjoys drifting inside, her one-on-one ability is one of the main sources of creativity. She ranks in the 91st percentile for successful take-ons and the 95th percentile for progressive carries in the 2025 NWSL season, which indicates her importance as Gotham’s primary ball carrier in the final third. It’s not hyperbolic to state that play runs through her. Purce allows Gotham to play different styles — both in playing balls in behind the defensive line or building up through midfield passes, which enables Esther to find space in and around the 18-yard box to lurk around and score.
In the above sequence, Shaw drops deeper to receive from Carter. The Pride used several players to engage in a high-pressing structure, but Shaw was able to side-step it and look for a better passing angle. She shrugs off Ally Lemos, then switches play to fullback Bruninha in space on the right. That movement triggers the transition: Bruninha drives forward, releases Purce, and then Gotham turns defense into attack within seconds.
On the other side, the Washington Spirit’s midfield offers a different profile entirely. Hershfelt provides the defensive range and ball-winning, Bethune offers creativity and final-third incision, and then Leicy Santos knits everything together with experience and tempo control. Together, they give the Spirit a balanced trio that can both protect the back line and release forwards Rodman, Gift Monday, and Sofia Cantore in transition.
Gotham will need to be wary of how the Spirit may overrun and penetrate the midfield, but it’s more likely that Gotham’s attacking and midfield lineup should create enough problems for the Spirit to have to sit back and play a more counter-attacking game. This might suit Rodman and Rose Kouassi, but given Howell’s role in midfield, there should be enough protection for Gotham at the back.
Sunday’s final promises a fascinating tactical duel between head coaches Adrian Gonzalez and Amorós — one defined by how each midfield manages pressure, controls transitions, and limits the opposition’s creative engines.
Whichever midfield trio can impose its desired rhythm — slow the game down, speed it up, or simply disrupt the other — will tilt the match. With so much attacking talent on both sides, the margins will be thin, so the midfield battle will likely decide who walks away as the 2025 NWSL Champions.
