Earlier this week, the Washington Post published their weekly Tuesday Kickaround. In this edition, writer Steven Goff shared the speculation of a U.S. Women’s National Team friendly match to be played later this year in April. Although nothing is official yet, this could be very likely.
Signs point to friendly coming soon
Aside from the She Believes Cup in March, the USWNT don’t have any other major tournaments for this year. In addition, they also haven’t announced any friendlies so far for the year. However, Goff wrote that “the U.S. Soccer Federation is also apparently arranging a match for April 9.” This date falls within a FIFA window, which would be the perfect time for a friendly. This is interesting timing, seeing as the National Women’s Soccer League begins its fifth season the following weekend.
Giving even more insight, Goff shares that ESPN has already reserved a two hour block for the friendly on the assigned date of Sunday, April 9. This two hour block starts at 2 p.m. Eastern Time and leads to the 4 p.m. Eastern Time coverage of the Major League Soccer match between Orlando City and the New York Red Bulls.
Major tournament up ahead first
Despite this possible friendly coming up, the USWNT is currently focused on performing well at their second annual She Believes Cup. The 25-player roster was released by U.S. Soccer yesterday, and the team will get together starting on February 20 to prepare for the tournament which starts the first week of March.
These matches against three of the top five teams in the world will be the first ones the USWNT play for 2017. Germany, France and England all return for the second annual tournament hosted by the USWNT. The full schedule for the She Believes Cup can be found here.