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USWNT to play New Zealand in October doubleheader

Abby Wambach

By KEVIN KOCZWARA

Columbus Crew stadium will be the sight of another U.S. National Team game this year.

This time, though, the U.S. Women’s National Team will invade Columbus and hope the home field advantage that has lifted the U.S. Men’s National Team team in recent years will help them beat New Zealand in an Oct. 30 friendly. The match is part of a two-game series with the Kiwis. The first game will be played at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on Oct. 27.

The last time the U.S. and New Zealand played was in a 2012 Olympics quarterfinal. The U.S. won, 2-0, in Newcastle, England, thanks to goals from Abby Wambach and Sydney Leroux.

“New Zealand is a much-improved side over the past few years,” said U.S. head coach Tom Sermanni in a statement. “Qualifying for World Cups and Olympics have helped them significantly and now they are a very composed and competitive team that plays with a great deal of confidence.”

Sermanni saw plenty of the Kiwis during his two stints as head coach of Australia and will know what to expect from them.

The U.S. Women will play their first ever game at Candlestick Park and in San Francisco during the team’s 28-year history. The last time the women played in the Bay Area was 2007, when the U.S. beat Japan, 4-1, at Spartan Stadium in San Jose.

The U.S. Women last played at Columbus Crew Stadium in 2011, beating Japan, 2-0. The They are 4-1-0 all-time at Crew Stadium.

The U.S. is ranked No. 1 in the latest FIFA Women’s World Rankings and is 10-0-2 in 2013. They have scored 43 goals and allowed just eight so far this year.

New Zealand is ranked 19th in the world and should qualify for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup when it hosts the Oceania qualifying competition in September 2014.

Before they play New Zealand, the Americans will play Australia in San Antonio, Texas, on Sunday, Oct. 20.

What do you think of the U.S. Women’s National Team’s double header with New Zealand? What do you think about San Francisco hosting one of the matches?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. “This time, though, the U.S. Women’s National Team will invade Columbus and hope the home field advantage that has lifted the men’s team in recent years will help them beat New Zealand on Oct. 30 in a friendly.”

    Hilarious. Please help them Columbus, help them beat New Zealand.

    And why are they invading?

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  2. Anyone having trouble buying tickets for the game in San Antone? i’ve been trying to buy some but ticketmaster doesn’t seem to be working.

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  3. I’m not sure you know what a doubleheader means.

    noun
    1. a sporting event in which two games or contests are played in succession at the same venue, typically between the same teams or players.

    This is a two game series.

    Reply
  4. I think the USWNT should play against themselves. It would probably be a better game and we would learn more about the quality of the players. No need for a sacrificial lamb. I would definitely pay money to see a split squad game like Team Old vs. Team Young, Team Ponytail vs. Team Short Hair, Team ACC vs Team Everybody Else. You could have a lot of fun with that format.

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    • You could actually get some interesting games out of that. But I feel like they play these games for the money. I’m not saying they are greedy, but the choice to be a female play doesn’t have the same lucrative draw as. I’m fairly certain the players get paid, would be a shame if they don’t.

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  5. why so many WNT friendlies? especially in the USA. Need to build their brand overseas. More matches in England or France or in Sweden/Norway.

    and why not more games for the Women’s professional soccer league? Seems we build on the NT despite their dominance, which leaves less room for their professional league.

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    • NWSL is a brand new league and it does have owners who need to cover a lot of the costs. A longer season costs more and there’s more competition for fields (at least on weekends). A lot of the non-NT players have jobs at colleges (or are going to school) and they can’t afford a season much longer than 5 months.

      And 2 of the 3 games are in the FIFA women’s window, so it’s not like it’s a huge stretch to hold them.

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    • The women historically have played more friendlies because they did not have a consistent professional league to play in. This year with the NWSL, they played less friendlies than last year. If the NWSL proves successful in the long term and eventually expands the season (Joe+G did a good job covering why it is short for now), you’ll likely see even less friendlies than this season.

      As to why so many are home matches… well if you’re the best, people come to you. They did play 3 friendlies abroad though: 1 in Germany, 1 in the Netherlands, and 1 in Canada.

      Reply

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