USWNT to play two friendlies vs. Mexico in September

The United States women and Mexico will square off twice in September, which figures to be both teams' final tune-ups before the World Cup qualifying in October. The first match will be on Sept. 13, although the site has yet to be announced. The second will be on Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. ET in Rochester, N.Y.

The U.S. and Mexico are the favorites in World Cup qualifying, where they could play each other. Canada will not participate, having automatically qualified for the World Cup as hosts, leaving the Americans and Mexicans as the clear one, two. Mexico has only beaten the U.S. once before, doing so in qualifying last time around and forcing the Americans into a playoff to qualify for the World Cup.

Jill Ellis has a lot of work to do, with the Americans struggling of late. That she just took over as manager and hasn't had much time to implement her system hasn't helped so she and the rest of the team have a lot of work to do when they face Mexico in September.

The U.S. is also scheduled to play Switzerland on Aug. 20 in Cary, N.C., so it appears as if they have three tests left before World Cup qualifying gets underway.