Coming off a 1-1 home draw versus the reigning champion Portland Thorns in its most recent regular season match, San Diego Wave now travels to Red Bull Arena to face the league-leading NY/NJ Gotham FC on June 4. San Diego is tied with the Washington Spirit, OL Reign and Portland all with 16 points, one behind Gotham FC.
“We’re a very high caliber team,” said San Diego Wave head coach Casey Stoney. “We’re going to head into a World Cup window, so we need to prepare for that World Cup window. We need to get people valuable minutes.”
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is from July 20 to Aug. 20 with the Wave having six players who represented their respective countries during the most recent FIFA window. That window took place in April with forward Alex Morgan, midfielder Taylor Kornieck, defender Naomi Girma representing the United States, midfielder Emily van Egmond representing Australia, goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan representing Canada, and forward Sofia Jakobsson representing Sweden.
As for its upcoming opponent Gotham, this will be the first meeting between the two sides this season with San Diego winning both games last year by a combined 7-0 scoreline including a 4-0 victory at Torero Stadium with all four goals coming from Morgan.
San Diego Wave will play Gotham FC once more time this season on Aug. 19 at Snapdragon Stadium as both sides still potentially being without any players who got called up to represent their national teams in the world cup.
This match on Sunday will come one day after Washington Spirit faces Racing Louisville and OL Reign takes on Portland Thorns on June 3, which will also impact who will be on top of the NWSL standings after week 10.
