The United States Women’s National Team will kick off 2016 with a friendly against Ireland on Saturday at Qualcomm Stadium.

This year officially starts the new era for the USWNT. In 2015 legends like Abby Wambach, Lauren Holiday, Shannon Boxx, Rachel Van Hollebeke and Lori Chalupny retired from the national team. The U.S. also won their third World Cup in the process. Now U.S. Head Coach Jill Ellis will need to have the Yanks move on from the historical year they had in 2015.

USWNT 2016 CONCACAF Preparation

The USWNT have the 2016 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers next month. As the host of the tournament, the Americans were given the first seed of group A. They will be facing: Puerto Rico, Mexico and Costa Rica to start the tournament. The qualification will begin on Feb. 10th and end on the 21st. For the United States to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio, they must reach the final of the tournament to be one of the two nations that represents CONCACAF.  

However, before Ellis begins to prepare the USWNT for the tournament, first on the list is Ireland. The United States come into this match as heavy favorites to win, and by landslide. In the last three match ups between the two nations, the U.S. has gone 3-0 and has yet to concede a goal. In those three games the United States outscored the European country by 10-0.

Ireland's Tournament Struggles

The USA has a successful history against the Irish, now when you add in the factors of the Ladies in Green struggle of their own is brought in; this game should be a warm up match for the USWNT. Ireland has never qualified to a FIFA tournament. In the 2017 Euro Qualifiers the Ladies in Green are currently on their way to continuing their streak of never participating in a tournament.

They were drawn in group with four other nations. The other countries are: Spain, Finland, Portugal and Montenegro. The Ladies in Green sit in third place with a (W-D-L) 1-0-2 record. For them to qualify for the 2017 UEFA Women’s Euro in the Netherlands they need to at least finish in second place. However, after three games their offense has only produced two goals and their defense has given up six.

The Irish failed to score against the two nations ahead of them in the standings (Finland and Spain). In those two games Ireland lost to a combined score of 5-0.  

Key For Ireland

On Saturday the best way Ireland has any chance of earning a positive result is by playing a very physical style with the USWNT. Similar to what China did in the finale of the Victory Tour, when the Chinese handed the Americans heir first lost in the tour at New Orleans. With that being said the United States still will be able to win with ease since there are a lot of players on this roster who need to step up and fill in the open spots.

USWNT Players To Watch

The U.S. enters their first year Wambach since 2001 as the number one ranked country in the FIFA Rankings. However, with veterans like: Alex Morgan, Christen Press, Sydney Leroux, Heather O’Reilly and the winner of the 2015 FIFA’s Women’s World Player of the Year Carli Lloyd the national team will be just fine.

However, the national team is also filled with plenty of youngsters ready to prove to the 2015 FIFA's Women’s World Coach, Ellis that they belong in the USWNT as regulars.

For forwards Crystal Dunn, Stephanie McCaffrey, midfielders Lindsey Horan, Sam Mewis and defenders Emily Sonnett will be looking to have a strong game or at least make an impact as a sub against the Irish on Saturday. They want to make Ellis's job of deciding who she will leave out of the Olympic qualifier roster, that much harder.

Prediction

USWNT 5-0 Ireland