After opening the yr by profitable the Concacaf W Gold Cup, the U.S. Ladies’s Nationwide Workforce returns to motion on Saturday, April 6, taking up Japan within the opening match of the 2024 SheBelieves Cup, introduced by Visa. The USA and Japan will sq. off at 12:30 p.m. ET (TNT, truTV, Telemundo, Universo, Max and Peacock) within the first of two semifinal matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Following USA-Japan, Brazil and Canada will face off at 3:30 p.m. ET (Universo, Max and Peacock) with the winners advancing to the Championship Recreation on April 9 at Decrease.com Subject in Columbus, Ohio. The dropping groups will meet in a Third-Place Match, additionally being held at Decrease.com Subject.
Followers can comply with all of the motion from the W Gold Cup through X (formerly Twitter – @USWNT), Instagram (@USWNT), Facebook and the official U.S. Soccer App.
GOALKEEPERS (3): Jane Campbell (Houston Sprint), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Braveness), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Purple Stars)
DEFENDERS (8): Abby Dahlkemper (San Diego Wave FC), Crystal Dunn (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Tierna Davidson (NY/NJ Gotham FC), Emily Fox (Arsenal FC, ENG), Eva Gaetino (Paris Saint-Germain, FRA), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC), Casey Krueger (Washington Spirit), Jenna Nighswonger (NY/NJ Gotham FC)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Korbin Albert (Paris Saint-Germain, FRA), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon, FRA), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns FC), Emily Sonnett (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Lily Yohannes (AFC Ajax, NED)
FORWARDS (6): Catarina Macario (Chelsea FC, ENG), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), Jaedyn Shaw (San Diego Wave FC), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC), Mallory Swanson (Chicago Purple Stars)
Nineteen of the 23 gamers on this squad for the 2024 SheBelieves Cup have been part of the U.S. roster that received the Concacaf W Gold Cup, defeating Brazil 1-0 within the championship sport on March 10. Headlining the group are the USA’s two particular person award winners from the Gold Cup: goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who took house the Golden Glove following three stellar performances within the knockout rounds, and ahead Jaedyn Shaw, who at simply 19 years of age was awarded the Golden Ball as the highest participant on the match and led the USA in scoring with 4 targets.
Forwards Mallory Swanson and Catarina Macario each return to the U.S. roster for his or her first video games following lengthy absences because of damage. Swanson, the 2023 Visa SheBelieves Cup MVP, final performed for the U.S. on April 8, 2023 earlier than struggling a critical knee damage that saved her out of rivalry for the 2023 FIFA Ladies’s World Cup. Macario, the 2022 Visa SheBelieves Cup MVP, final performed for the U.S. in April of 2022 earlier than tearing her ACL shortly after serving to Olympique Lyon win the 2021-22 UEFA Ladies’s Champions League.
Rounding out the roster are two gamers presently plying their trades in Europe in 21-year-old Paris Saint-Germain defender Eva Gaetino and 16-year-old Ajax midfielder Lily Yohannes, each of whom get their first call-ups to the senior nationwide workforce.
The SheBelieves Cup, introduced by Visa, is only one a part of U.S. Soccer’s SheBelieves initiative to encourage and empower ladies and women to realize their targets in sport and past. The match, which is able to function a barely altered format for 2024, was first performed in 2016. The USA received the inaugural version, France took prime honors in 2017, the USA received once more in 2018, England completed first in 2019 and the USA returned to the highest of the rostrum in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
As a result of an adjustment within the FIFA calendar, which resulted within the Concacaf W Gold Cup happening in February and March, the format of the SheBelieves Cup has additionally modified for 2024. As a substitute of the same old six video games over three match days, there’ll solely be 4 video games over two match days with the primary serving as semifinal matches and the second that includes the Third-Place Match and the Championship Recreation.
Saturday’s sport at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, house of Atlanta United from MLS and the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, will likely be performed in entrance of a document crowd for a SheBelieves Cup match as greater than 47,000 followers are anticipated on the be in attendance. It is usually approaching the document for the most important crowd on house soil for a non-World Cup and non-Olympic match in USWNT historical past. That document presently stands at 49,504 and was set at Lincoln Monetary Subject in Philadelphia on Aug. 29, 2019, within the USA’s first sport on house soil after profitable the 2019 FIFA Ladies’s World Cup. The USWNT additionally drew a crowd of 44,028 in Pittsburgh on Aug. 16, 2015, which was the workforce’s first house match after profitable the 2015 World Cup.
Saturday’s match would be the first USWNT sport in Atlanta because it was introduced as the brand new house for the U.S. Soccer Federation, which is able to break floor on a state-of-the-art Nationwide Coaching Middle in Fayette County on April 8.
The sport additionally marks a homecoming for 2 Georgia-natives on this USWNT roster. Goalkeeper Jane Campbell hails from Kennesaw, Georgia, and grew up taking part in for the Harmony Fireplace and North Atlanta Soccer Affiliation earlier than going off to stardom at Stanford. Defender Emily Sonnett hails from Marietta, Georgia, house to the Atlanta United Coaching Middle, and in addition performed for NASA, earlier than heading off to a stellar profession on the College of Virginia.
Whereas a brand new format, Brazil, Canada and Japan return for the SheBelieves Cup for the second consecutive yr and symbolize a formidable four-team area. All 4 individuals within the 2024 SheBelieves Cup are ranked within the prime 10 within the FIFA Ladies’s World Rankings, with the USA at #4, Japan at #7, Canada at #9 and Brazil ranked #10. All 4 groups have additionally certified for the 2024 Paris Olympics, that means the SheBelieves Cup represents one-third of the Olympic Subject.
Saturday’s matchup in Atlanta would be the 40th assembly all-time between the USA and Japan and the fourth SheBelieves Cup assembly between the groups, making it the second-most widespread matchup in SheBelieves Cup historical past behind solely USA-England (5 conferences).
The newest matchup between the USA and Japan got here on February 19 on the 2023 SheBelieves Cup. The USA received that match, performed at GEODIS Park in Nashville, 1-0 behind a objective from Mallory Swanson within the 45th minute. Swanson, who went on to win MVP honors, scored simply earlier than the stroke of halftime as she tracked down a ball performed excessive by Alex Morgan and blazed previous the protection to internet the sport’s solely objective.
Total, the USA leads the all-time collection towards Japan with a document of 30W-1L-8D, with its lone loss within the collection got here throughout the 2012 Algarve Cup. Since then, the USA is unbeaten within the final 12 conferences between the groups, with eight wins and 4 attracts in that span, together with a 2-1 win within the 2012 Olympic Last and a 5-2 victory within the 2015 FIFA Ladies’s World Cup Last.
Morgan has 12 targets and three assists in 15 profession appearances towards Japan, essentially the most targets she has scored towards anyone opponent in her worldwide profession and essentially the most targets scored towards Japan by any participant in USWNT historical past. A type of targets got here within the 2011 World Cup Last, as Morgan opened the scoring within the 69th minute. Tied 2-2 on the finish of regulation and following further time, Japan finally prevailed on penalty kicks, 3-1, to say the World Cup title.
For the fifth yr in a row, Visa, the presenting sponsor of the SheBelieves Cup, will award the MVP trophy to essentially the most excellent participant of the match. The award will likely be introduced following the conclusion of the ultimate match on April 9 and with the enter of a variety committee comprised of representatives from all 4 competing nations.
For the fourth yr in a row, followers may even get the chance to vote for the Visa SheBelieves Cup MVP award utilizing a web-based poll to pick out amongst an inventory of finalists chosen by the committee. The fan vote will likely be integrated into the general willpower of the 2024 Visa SheBelieves Cup MVP.
In an thrilling new enhancement this yr, U.S. Soccer will award $25,000 to women-owned small companies from the identical nation because the Nationwide Workforce represented by the Visa SheBelieves Cup MVP, due to Visa’s persevering with dedication to supporting ladies on and off the sector.
Spain attacker Alexia Putellas received the inaugural award in 2020 whereas the USA’s Rose Lavelle collected the honors in 2021. USWNT ahead Catarina Macario took house prime honors in 2022 adopted by Mallory Swanson in 2023.
On March 20, the Final Draw for the 2024 Olympic Women’s Soccer tournament was held in Paris as all 12 individuals realized their teams and path to gold. The 2024 Olympic Ladies’s Soccer Match is happening from July 25-Aug. 10 in seven cities and at seven venues all through France.
The U.S. will open Group B play on July 25 – someday earlier than the Olympic Opening Ceremonies – towards the winner of the CAF Olympic Qualifying playoff between Morocco or Zambia (9 p.m. native / 3 p.m. ET) at Stade de Good in Good. The Individuals will then journey to Marseille to their second match at Stade de Marseille and can face Germany on July 28 (9 p.m. native / 3 p.m. ET). The USA will end group play towards Australia on July 31 (7 p.m. native / 1 p.m. ET) at Stade de Marseille. Situated within the south for France, Good is sort of 600 miles from Paris close to France’s border with Monaco and Italy. Marseille, positioned 125 miles west of Good, is the second-largest metropolis in France.
Canada was drawn into Group A, the place it is going to face host France, Colombia and New Zealand. Japan and Brazil have been each drawn into Group C, together with the winner of the Nigeria-South Africa playoff and Spain.
After a worldwide search course of led U.S. Soccer Sporting Director Matt Crocker, Emma Hayes was formally introduced as the tenth head coach in U.S. Ladies’s Nationwide Workforce historical past on November 14, 2023. The long-time head coach for English powerhouse Chelsea FC, Hayes began her teaching profession in the USA within the early 2000s and greater than twenty years later will take the helm of the USWNT. As a result of her contact with Chelsea, Hayes will end the 2023-24 Ladies’s Tremendous League season in England after which be a part of the U.S. workforce formally two months previous to the beginning of the Olympics. U.S. Soccer has put a complete plan and course of in place to maximise the productiveness in all facets of transferring the USWNT ahead main into the Olympics, a key a part of which is interim head coach Twila Kilgore persevering with in her position after which becoming a member of Hayes’ employees full-time as an assistant coach in late Could.
The SheBelieves Cup will likely be Kilgore’s final matches as interim head coach as Hayes will coach her first two matches in early June will likely be towards the Korea Republic. The USA will tackle the Taegeuk Girls in Commerce Metropolis, Colorado on June 1 at Dick’s Sporting Items Park (3 p.m. MT / 5 p.m. ET on TNT, Universo, Max and Peacock) earlier than transferring on to St. Paul, Minnesota for a June 4 match at Allianz Subject, which will likely be introduced by Allstate (7 p.m. CT / 8 p.m. ET on truTV, Universo, Max and Peacock). Each matches will happen on the house stadiums of Main League Soccer golf equipment, the Colorado Rapids and Minnesota United FC, respectively. The USA’s most up-to-date match towards Korea Republic was additionally at Allianz Subject, in October of 2021, a 6-0 win for the USA.
Impressed by the U.S. WNT gamers, SheBelieves is an initiative led by U.S. Soccer to encourage and encourage ladies and women. The marketing campaign launched within the run-up to the 2015 Ladies’s World Cup and has since grown into a strong message of empowerment and believing in oneself. The SheBelieves Cup represents a showcase occasion for the marketing campaign, which additionally options efforts such because the SheBelieves Summit Offered by Deloitte.
The 2024 SheBelieves Summit, introduced by Deloitte, will happen on April 27 and 28 at Venue SIX10 in Chicago, Illinois. With the objective of inspiring the subsequent technology, U.S. Soccer and Deloitte will present school college students and younger professionals with the chance to be taught from and community with trade professionals. Contributors will hear from a various vary of girls in management who’re driving progress in sports activities, enterprise, and leisure, headlined by two-time Olympic gold medalist gymnast and advocate Aly Raisman.
The theme of the Summit this yr is HER Future, which seeks to equip attendees with the abilities to confidently outline and pave their distinctive paths ahead. Along with panels, breakout periods led by Deloitte and different U.S. Soccer companions will deal with skilled expertise, monetary literacy, and psychological well being and wellbeing. Registration for the occasion is now open.
FIFA World Rating: 7
AFC Rating: 1
Olympic Appearances: 6th (1996, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2020, 2024)
Greatest Olympic Consequence: Silver Medal (2012)
File vs. USA: 1W-8D-30L (GF: 30, GA: 110)
Final Assembly vs. USA: Feb. 19, 2023 (1-0 win for USA in Nashville, Tenn.)
Head Coach: Futoshi Ikeda (JPN)
GOALKEEPERS (3): Ayaka Yamashita (INAC Lobe Leonessa), Chika Hirao (Albirex Niigata Girls), Shu Ohba (College of Mississippi, USA)
DEFENDERS (7): Saki Kumagai (AS Roma, ITA), Risa Shimizu (West Ham United FC, ENG), Miyabi Moriya (INAC Kobe Leonessa), Hikaru Kitagawa (INAC Kobe Leonessa), Moeka Minami (AS Roma, ITA), Rion Ishikawa (Urawa Reds Girls), Toko Koga (Feyenoord Rotterdam, NED）
MIDFIELDERS (5): Yui Hasegawa (Manchester Metropolis FC, ENG), Hina Sugita (Portland Thorns FC, USA), Honoka Hayashi (West Ham United FC, ENG), Fuka Nagano (Liverpool FC, ENG), Momoko Tanikawa (FC Rosengård, SWE）
FORWARDS (7): Mina Tanaka (INAC Kobe Leonessa), Kiko Seike (Urawa Reds Girls), Mami Ueno (Sanfrecce Hiroshima Regina), Riko Ueki (West Ham United FC, ENG), Hinata Miyazawa (Manchester Metropolis FC, ENG), Aoba Fujino (Tokyo Verdy Neleza), Maika Hamano (Chelsea FC, ENG）
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