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The United States women will play two friendlies in June, both against France. The first match will be on June 14 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL with the second coming five days later at Rentschler Field in Hartford, CT. Both matches will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET and will only be shown online at ussoccer.com
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Whether the U.S. has a permanent manager in time for the matches remains to be seen. Jill Ellis is still the interim manager and Sunil Gulati said that she will continue in that role until a new manager is hired, but he did not put a firm timeline on appointing a new boss in the wake of Tom Sermanni's firing. Many people expect the U.S. to hire a new coach by the start of the summer so the two June friendlies could be the first matches under the new leader, but that is just guesswork.
France will give the U.S. a very tough test. They are the fourth ranked team in the world, although they suffered a disappointing quarterfinal elimination in last year's Euros after falling to Denmark in penalties. That was also their last match so when they take on the U.S. it will be nearly 11 months after their last match, but with a squad full of players from Lyon and PSG, that is less a problem than it would be for other teams.
These matches may fly under the radar with the World Cup also going on, but they could be of the utmost importance to the U.S. If the new manager is in place, it will be the start of a quick build to Women's World Cup qualifying later in the year and a serious test.
