USWNT to face Australia and Brazil in April

The United States women’s national team is staying busy between Concacaf qualifying and the Olympics; not only will they have their usual SheBelieves tournament, but they just added a pair of home friendlies this spring, playing Australia in Sandy, Utah and Brazil in San Jose, California.

April 10

USA vs. Australia
7:30 PM MT / 9:30 PM ET
Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, Utah
ESPN2

April 14

USA vs. Brazil
7:00 PM PT / 10 PM ET
Earthquakes Stadium, San Jose, California
FS1

These are definitely good games for the US to add to their list of tough opponents as Olympic prep. At SheBelieves in March, they’re already playing England, Spain, and Japan; with these two teams, they’ll get a really good mix of style sand difficulty levels to deal with. Some of the questions Vlatko Andonvoski will probably be asking throughout these games is if Ali Krieger - Abby Dahlkmper is a viable starting CB pairing, if Christen Press and Lynn Williams should become regular starters, and how he prefers to configure his midfield. This will also be a time for him to evaluate who needs to get cut so he can slim the roster down to 18 for the Olympics. Andonovski said during Olympic qualifying that NWSL play will count towards his evaluation, and with league play beginning April 18, a good performance here might still not be a guarantee for a spot (see: Mal Pugh, Casey Short).

Of note, the USSF deal with Australia includes the USWNT traveling to Australia for two games in November 2021. With Australia and New Zealand in a joint bid for the 2023 Women’s World Cup (yes, they still haven’t awarded the rights, which are expected to be assigned June 2020), these games could potentially act as a warmup/test run should they be awarded the tournament.

Here’s the upcoming USWNT schedule for SheBelieves as well:

USA vs England
March 5
7 PM ET / 4 PM PT
Exploria Stadium, Orlando, Florida
ESPN2, TUDN

USA vs Spain
March 8
5 PM ET / 2 PM PT
Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey
ESPN, TUDN

USA vs Japan
March 11
9 PM ET / 6 PM PT
Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas
ESPNews, TUDN

Will you be attending any of these games? Which opponent are you most looking forward to the US playing?