The U.S. women’s national team’s fall schedule is continuing to grow ahead of a new chapter in the program’s history.
Colombia will oppose the USWNT in a pair of October friendlies on Oct. 26 in Sandy, Utah and Oct. 29 in San Diego, U.S. Soccer announced Monday. It will be the second-straight international window of home friendlies for the USWNT, who will take on South Africa twice in September.
The USWNT is coming off its worst-ever finish at a Women’s World Cup, suffering elimination in the Round of 16 in Australia and New Zealand. Vlatko Andonovski stepped down as head coach shortly after, while general manager Kate Markgraf also stepped down from her role.
It will be the first USWNT match at America First Field in Sandy, Utah since June 2022. Snapdragon Stadium will play host to the USWNT for the first time in its existence.
Colombia is coming off a strong performance at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup where it won Group H. Colombia defeated Jamaica 1-0 to win its first-ever knockout match at a Women’s World Cup before falling to eventual finalists England 2-1 in quarterfinal action.
Colombia has already qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in France, similar to the USWNT.
Twila Kilgore was named interim head coach of the USWNT following Andonovski’s departure as head coach.
We’ve played Colombia in double headers each of the last two years I couldn’t find any reports of major injuries. At least Vlatko did rotate from match to match last year so maybe that’s a benefit.
restructure required of approach and utilization of players, and yes some personnel changes too as with any cycle, hopefully a return to health too of course
Smith still had the game on her foot vs. Sweden, even with many key players missing for that game and the entire tournament who hopefully will be back for the Olympics
biggest thing is game planning for specific opponents and coaching it so the players buy and so execute. Again, what Ellis did vs. England, it’s not like she had the team show that in friendlies…no. But she had the team ready for the moment when it was needed, and they executed
need that most imho, especially considering the current environment in which the USWNT plays…not really very friendly, to say the least
because what a team that needs a reboot and a new coach wants in an opponent is Team Lumberjack? twice?
Honestly there’s not that many teams in women’s football that don’t revert to a “physical” style when faced with the US.
sorry but colombia has a nasty rep beyond just normal — ireland abandoned their pre WWC “friendly” 23′ in after a player went to the hospital — and at some point USSF needs to get this is not just vague scheduling of games for national pride but should instead be prep work for a specific purpose. we need to be trialing players and implementing new tactics — and playing an opponent appropriate for the purpose now — not testing how much of new tactics they can try to get in between having their shins kicked. to be fair it’s not quite as stupid as running sarachan and his 2018 youth movement through the france/ brazil/ colombia/ england buzzsaw.` the irony of all the grandiose tactical sales pitch work we indulge — sell me your snake oil, please — is we have zero big picture awareness anymore of how one goes about building success via process. you schedule colombia if you think your team is soft and needs to be battered about and toughened up. if you need to test out players for skill and teach how we will play in the future you don’t invite in legbreakers for a double header. just silly.
I hate the doubleheader idea that the women’s game uses anyway. Pair up with Canada or Mexico and trade off. I understand its cheaper for federations overall but you learn little.
I continue to dispute your rebuild idea, get rid of a handful of players who have lost their effectiveness and actually play the talented players in spots they normally play and we’re fine.
JR: i agree re the nature of the schedule. this is 2023 not 1985. why can’t they do like my NCAA alma mater does. pair up with a neighboring rival team and cross-over games. game 1 i play A you play B, game 2 vice versa. which is also what the US men often do with mexico. i get at a point the women ran more like a neverending bora 1994 style camp, players on fed contracts, glorified amateurism, and opponents had limited funding, and ok we’ll play 2 games against the same cheap opponent in neighboring cities. but the program and its revenues have grown, as has the funding of many opponents. the schedule should evolve with it.
re the other half, most school, select, college, and pro teams begin a new “season” with a trial period where to at least some degree the roster is reopened. to me it is scientific. who all do i have here this year. how do they stack. the usual suspects may be better players and some of the noobs may turn out bust but let’s prove that through a competitive process. having evaluated and determined the best talent at my hands i can then tailor tactics to those players, which gets my best players on the field, and as a result of a concrete process as opposed to an abstract guess, obsession, or missionary thing. the US teams have a bad tendency to pick their tactics with the coaching hire — one-note guys instead of proven game managers — which gets you a weird mix of coach favorites and people he thinks fit scheme. what coach sets out to reach a suboptimal result forced by his tactical fixations?
i also think an iterative winnowing process teaches you what players show up game after game, and resists our current impulse to crown one game wonders or people who haven’t even played a game. it also resists our circular nonsense where we fall in and out of love with players who are given several games in a row based on club form.
worse, we have this weird thing going where we are kind of conservative with rosters chasing wins but then accountability to success is tepid. when’s the last time we beat a good european team? the roster minimally changes outside of gold cup or january and yet we don’t respond to games like, say, summer 2022 like the focus is winning. my theory is he gets a bunch of indulgence for a project. i don’t believe it takes 5 years to win with a project. HS and college teams operate on shorter timescales with their players, beginning to end……and they don’t get to ward off accountability endlessly, saying, manana……
anyhow, my trial period is finite. now through x. after that — but only after — shift to a focus on winning games and implementing tactics. to me the tail wags the dog lately. the coach gets his analytics driven list of players — which, fans could read box scores — then forces a formation and approach he wanted before he saw them. maybe lacks the chops to play any other way. i want to know what i have and i want a game manager styling the tactics to the team and who can shift on a dime if the game requires it. my personal experience 1/3 of the season comes down to being able to improvise, individually or conceptually. they have done something cynical or creative to stop you. you have to do something else.
anyhow, big picture the WC says we are just a top 16 team. don’t understand all the protectiveness. if the perceived best are the best they will emerge yet again.
on your OP, I’m with you IV…why Team Lumberjack? twice?