The U.S. Women’s National Team booked its second European friendly of April which will come against another of the world’s top sides.
U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that Vlatko Andonovski’s side will take on third-ranked France on April 13 at Stade Océane in Le Havre. It will be the USWNT’s second friendly in Europe, which will come three days after a meeting with fifth-ranked Sweden in Stockholm.
“We feel really fortunate to be able to get these two games during the April match window,” said Andonovski. “Playing France in France is one of the most difficult games we could schedule and that’s exactly what we are looking for in the lead up to the Olympics. They have top class players at every position, play an exciting style and will certainly be highly motivated. They will present a lot of challenges that we will have to overcome both defensively and in the attack.”
It will be the first meeting between the USWNT and France since the quarterfinal clash at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Paris, a 2-1 triumph for the Americans in Paris that featured a pair of Megan Rapinoe goals. The USWNT went on to repeat as World Cup winners after defeating the Netherlands 2-0 in the Final.
After starting 2021 with a 5-0 record and a SheBelieves Cup title, the USWNT will hit the road for the first time this year. The USWNT will also have a chance at Olympic Gold this summer in Tokyo, after qualifying as Concacaf Tournament winners last year.
With France out of the Olympics, the match against the U. S. will give them a chance for some bragging rights if they win and the U. S. goes on to win the Olympics. France was considered by most as the Team to Beat in the 2019 W/C, being the home team and having beat the US soundly that year at the SBC on US Turf. The reason France was favored was that during the SBC match, right wing Kadi Diani, ran rings around Crystal Dunn and the other US defenders leading to as EZ French win. HOWEVER, at the W/C, there was a total turnabout. Crystal Dunn TOTALLY shut Diani down almost single-handedly which allowed the rest of the back line to focus on All-World Left Wing, Eugenie Le Somer. The result was that the highly touted French front line was SHUT OUT. Their only goal came from a near-match ending header by Tower-of-Power fullback Wendy Renard, which was too little too late. IMHO, Crystal Dunn was the Heroine of the USA’s 2019 W/C win, and she didn’t even get as much as a footnote in History.
O.K. so a lot of players on both teams will have something to prove and re-prove here, so look for this match to be the best match of the year outside of what takes place at the Olympics. I would consider setting you TV DVR to record this one!!!
Great opponent to assess where the team is at…
Exactly. First real team we’ve faced. They will expose us if we have any weaknesses. It will be a real test for some of our older players