USWNT to face South Africa in pair of September friendlies

The United States Women’s National Team will get right back to it about a month after the end of the Women’s World Cup. Today, U.S. Soccer announced that the USWNT will compete in two friendlies against fellow Women’s World Cup participant South Africa in the September international window. The first match will take place on September 21st at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, with kickoff set for 7:30pm on TNT, Universo, and Peacock. The second friendly will take place at Soldier Field in Chicago on September 24th, with the match beginning at 5:30pm ET on TNT, Universo, and Peacock.

The USWNT have only faced 2 African teams in their history, with Banyana Banyana being one of them. They have only faced each other twice before, with their most recent match coming in May 2019, a 2-0 USWNT win in Santa Clara. South Africa is currently 54th in the FIFA world rankings, and they will compete in Group G at the 2023 Women’s World Cup alongside Sweden, Italy, and Argentina.

“The focus right now is of course on the World Cup, but to get two great matches in our first games back in the USA in two stadiums that are really fun to play in will be awesome for our players and the fans,” USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski said in a statement. “South Africa has talented players so I’m sure these will be two entertaining games.”

• Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium will be hosting its 2nd USWNT match. Its first match was a 8-0 victory for the USWNT against Paraguay back in September 2021. Cincinnati has hosted 6 matches all-time. Meanwhile, this will be the 9th match for the USWNT at Chicago’s Soldier Field, and they have played in Chicago several times before that at other venues.

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