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With temperatures hovering around 44 degrees and a light drizzle falling, Gotham FC players stepped onto the training pitch at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island in Manhattan. A drawn-out ordeal spanning several months had brought the team to this point—practicing on an island in the East River, 25 miles from their usual home at Sports Illustrated Stadium. Yet ahead of their National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) semifinal showdown against Kansas City Current, neither players nor coaching staff were allowing the circumstances to dampen their spirits.
"There's been a lot going on, but for us, it's always about the solution and not the problem," Gotham manager Juan Carlos Amorós told reporters Saturday. "The mood, to be honest, has been great this week. I think we've worked incredibly hard to be in the position that we are in, playing a semifinal at home. That's what we can control. We control the controllables."
The issues beyond their control began with the schedule. Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls booked a friendly on the Saturday of semifinal weekend, despite having been aware of Gotham's potential playoff schedule for months. And even with Gotham's match moved to Sunday, concerns about the playing surface at the Harrison, N.J. stadium—which resulted in a fine for Gotham—left the club scrambling to find an alternative venue.
"We had to make a very quick decision, but Juan [Carlos Amorós] did consult with several of our player leaders," Gotham's president of soccer operations Yael Averbuch West tells Sports Illustrated. "Ultimately I was heavily influenced by their very strong recommendation having to do with the playing surface."
Time to Bring Everything to @IcahnStadiumNYC for the semis 😈
WHY STOP NOW? pic.twitter.com/Q5bS0ojmNN
Working alongside representatives from the NWSL league office, the club spent weeks evaluating multiple venues throughout the region before settling on a familiar option—the immaculate Kentucky bluegrass surface at Icahn Stadium.
"It looked good, players were moving well on it, the players were moving well," Averbuch West says, watching training on Saturday afternoon.
Sunday's match will be played in front of a reduced crowd, as Icahn Stadium holds just 5,000 permanent seats compared to Sports Illustrated Stadium's capacity of 25,000.
"It's a really tough decision to make, and it's ultimately about prioritizing," Averbuch West explains. "There's not a perfect answer. For us, as everyone knows, we ultimately prioritized the playing surface, which comes at the expense of other things. Often I find there's no 'right decision,' it's about understanding priorities, and ours as a club was to have the players play on a surface that was of the quality that they deserve."
Icahn Stadium Is Home Away From Home
Love a crisp autumn day on the pitch 🍂⚽️
See you soon, #GothamFC Fam! pic.twitter.com/2rPcBk1yOM
"[The field] is great, we've played here twice now, and it's been good every time we've been here," Gotham captain Tierna Davidson said after Saturday's practice. "It was great training on it today."
The club's two previous appearances at this venue came in July against Seattle Reign, where Gotham pulled off a thrilling 3–2 comeback victory, and in August 2025, when they claimed a 2–1 win over C.F. Monterrey in the Concacaf W Champions Cup group stage. That familiarity has helped the stadium feel like a genuine home away from home.
"Even just the simplest things like knowing where the locker rooms are, knowing how to get onto the pitch, knowing what the setup will be, those things do make a difference," Davidson said.
As the squad went through their paces on Saturday afternoon, the energy was upbeat. With the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop and the Tri-Borough Bridge overhead, players and staff remained sharply focused on what lies ahead: an NWSL semifinal.
However, given the venue's limited seating capacity, the club had to find creative ways to keep their broader fan base across the New York–New Jersey area engaged.
"We were incredibly disappointed that we couldn't welcome all of our fans to our first home semifinal in club history," Gotham majority owner Carolyn Tisch Blodgett tells Sports Illustrated. "This was a historic moment for Gotham FC, and it was important to us that our entire community had the opportunity to be part of it, even if they couldn't be in the stadium. That's why hosting watch parties mattered so much. Our fans have shown up for us time and again, wherever we play, and we wanted to make sure they could share in this moment together. We're incredibly grateful for their unwavering support."
From Bloomfield, N.J. to Astoria, Queens, Tisch contributed $2,000 to each of the four official watch party locations, ensuring that fans unable to secure seats at Icahn could still feel connected to the action.
"So many people are behind us, and we knew that not everyone could be here in person," Averbuch West adds. "So it's not just having people cheer us on from home, but also to get together and feel the community aspect of cheering for the team is really important. We love that people are gathering all over the place, including here."
For the players and staff at Gotham, this semifinal carries all the weight it deserves. In 2025, the team eliminated the shield-winning Kansas City Current in the quarterfinals with a 2–1 stoppage-time goal from Katie [Stengel] Lampson. Now, Gotham earn home-field advantage befitting their own shield triumph, and they've fully embraced Icahn as their true home away from home.
"We have done a really good job of finding the silver linings, making lemonade out of lemons," added Davidson, who has been a standout presence on defense throughout the season. "I think the setup here tomorrow is going to be really great."