{"id":822547,"date":"2026-07-25T07:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T07:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822547\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T07:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T07:48:11","slug":"football-news-2026-sam-kerr-scores-first-goal-for-gotham-fc-nwsl-match-report-highlights-after-draw-with-portland-thorns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822547\/","title":{"rendered":"Football news 2026: Sam Kerr scores first goal for Gotham FC; NWSL match report, highlights after draw with Portland Thorns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Kerr<\/a> fired Gotham FC to the top of the National Women\u2019s Soccer League ladder with the equalising goal in a 2-2 away draw with the Portland Thorns on Saturday (AEST).<\/p>\n

The Australian superstar\u2019s celebrations were muted after she smashed the ball past her Matildas<\/a> goalkeeper teammate Mackenzie Arnold in the 62nd minute.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sam Kerr scores for Gotham FC.\u00a0Stan<\/p>\n

\u201cNo nonsense, laces through it, instinctual finish, and a striker\u2019s goal,\u201d Ricky Lopez-Espin said on Stan Sport\u2019s coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe hit that one with some vengeance, wanting to make her presence known.\u201d<\/p>\n

It looked like Kerr would then lead her side to victory at Providence Park when she got Thorns centre back Jayden Perry sent off in the 73rd minute.<\/p>\n

Referee Katja Koroleva had no hesitation issuing a straight red card after Perry dragged Kerr down to deny her a clear goalscoring opportunity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sam Kerr of Gotham FC is dragged down by Jayden Perry of Portland Thorns.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Portland defended stoutly with 10 players, but the point was enough to lift Gotham above the Washington Spirit at the top of the standings.<\/p>\n

It was Kerr\u2019s first goal for Gotham in her third game for the club since signing from Chelsea in June.<\/p>\n

Kerr is the leading goalscorer in NWSL history with 78 despite having not played in the league since 2019.<\/p>\n

Speaking before the match, Kerr declared that the A-League Women\u2019s competition needs greater investment to entice more Matildas to return home.<\/a><\/p>\n

Kerr said that many of the country\u2019s leading players would consider returning if the competition offered the right professional environment.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old said Australia\u2019s top women\u2019s league required further development despite the progress it had made in recent years.<\/p>\n

Kerr said the competition had previously benefited from the presence of national team players and Australians returning from stints overseas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to find a way to get all the best players back,\u201d Kerr told ABC Sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it paid enough, and it was a top league, a lot of us Matildas would go back, but to better ourselves for the national team, we have to go overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Player pay has been a key concern in the A-League Women, which offers lower salaries than Australia\u2019s other major women\u2019s domestic competitions and less than overseas soccer leagues.<\/p>\n

A-League Women players earned minimum salaries of $26,500 last year, lower than their counterparts at the NWSL whose minimum earnings in 2025 were $69,500.<\/p>\n

A new collective bargaining agreement bumped NWSL players\u2019 annual earnings to $72,350 in 2026.<\/p>\n

Trinity Rodman, the highest-paid player in NWSL history, earns more than $2.87 million a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe A-League was thriving, or the W-League back then was thriving when the national team players and players from the NWSL, players from England were coming over,\u201d Kerr said.<\/p>\n

Several of Australia\u2019s leading internationals, including Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley, Katrina Gorry, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Mary Fowler, now play in Europe.<\/p>\n

Kerr said the A-League Women compared favourably with the NWSL in some respects, but still required greater backing to continue its growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe A-League\u2019s probably more similar to the NWSL. It\u2019s more transitional, probably on the same level as the NWSL off the pitch with things like that,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think the A-League probably needs a little bit more investment, a little bit more time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The A-League Women and the NWSL were once among the world\u2019s premier women\u2019s leagues, but most of Australia\u2019s top players now play in Europe, with a few Matildas based in the United States.<\/p>\n

Football\u2019s\u00a0new home, Stan Sport<\/a>, is the only place to watch the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, WSL, J.League, NWSL and K League<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Kerr fired Gotham FC to the top of the National Women\u2019s Soccer League ladder with the equalising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-822547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}