BY COLE KELLOGG
As the U.S. Women’s National Team continues to ride the high of winning the 2015 World Cup, two more matches on the team’s victory tour have just been added.
U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that the USWNT will face off twice against World Cup group stage opponents Australia in a pair of September friendlies. The teams will play at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, before traveling to Birmingham, Alabama, for a match at Legion Field three days later.
The first match will take place on Thursday, Sept. 17, and the second will be three days later.
The two sides met in their first Group D match in the World Cup in June. After an early goal from Australia, Megan Rapinoe scored two goals and Christen Press added a third to give the U.S. a 3-1 victory.
The Americans’ victory tour kicks off with two games against Costa Rica in August.
What do you expect from the two friendlies? What kind of team would you expect head coach Jill Ellis to call in? Surprised to see the Americans playing two games in venues with turf fields?
Share your thoughts below.
I’m still hoping that the U.S. will play England sometime during this victory tour. It’d be cool to see what could’ve, and should’ve, been the Final.
I was hoping for England or France because the US missed playing them in the cup. The Netherlands also looked like a pretty fun team to play as well.
There are still 6 more games
I understand they (both USSF and the players) want to maximize every possible dollar from this victory tour, but wouldn’t it make sense to play these games in cities where NWSL teams are?
It appears they want large stadiums to maximize ticket revenue, so places like Sporting Park and BBVA aren’t ideal, but could they not secure Arrowhead in KC and Reliant in Houston? Promote the league along with making $$$.
But isn’t that also draining potential customers from the NWSL games? NT games are usually quite expensive, so fans might choose the whole NT verses a handful of players at an NWSL match.
Expensive is a relative term. What’s expensive to you may not be expensive to another. I went to Nashville to see the USMNT play Guatemala and spent $40 on my ticket, which is not expensive in my eyes, but might be considered very expensive to other people.
And if you are trying to grow a league, then you need to market your stars to the communities they play in. I would put money on it that maybe 10-20 people from Birmingham, Alabama — the site of one of these games — might travel to go to an NWSL game this year, but if they held a game in KC or Houston or Jersey, then maybe 1,000-2,000 people who attend the USWNT game may give their hometown NWSL team a try.
Plus, anyone who pays $40 to $200 per ticket to see the USWNT play in one of these “Victory Tour” games might be pleasantly surprised to find out they can go see an NWSL game for $10 to $30 per ticket, and thus even more willing to check out the local women’s pro team.
I don’t think the friendlies will attract people to then go to NWSL games. The key audience will be the TV audience who are local to an NWSL team.