The U.S. men’s national team has its first two post-Gold Cup matches of 2025 officially sealed.
Korea Republic and Japan will both visit the Americans for a pair of September friendlies, U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday. Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, N.J. will host the USMNT-Korea Republic showdown on September 6 before Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio will host the USMNT-Japan fixture on Sept. 9.
Both matches will serve as key preparation fixtures ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The USMNT have a 2-3-2 all-time record against Korea Republic, with the last meeting coming in 2014. Chris Wondolowski scored both goals in a 2-0 victory on that day in Carson, California.
Japan’s showdown with the USMNT will be the fourth all-time meeting between the two programs. It will be the first since 2022, when Japan earned a 2-0 friendly victory over the Americans in both countries’ preparation for the World Cup that fall in Qatar.
The USMNT will return to action this June against Turkey and Switzerland before taking part in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
I like these games since both these teams are up and coming and around our level. One of the best games I ever saw the US play was a friendly against Japan when Arena was coach. The US won by playing a lot of quick, one touch soccer and looked really good. After the game the Japanese coach said that the US looked almost as good as Brazil, which Japan had played earlier that year. I would like to see the US duplicate that with a lot of quick passing, good movement off the ball, providing outlets for passes, etc. We have the players, I think that is what we should be doing. I’m reminded of what basketball coach John Wooden used to say–Be quick, but don’t hurry. Before a player receives a pass he should already know where it should be passed next.