After claiming the bronze medal in the women's soccer competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the United States Women's National Team will play its first match in Cincinnati's TQL Stadium.
TQL Stadium will serve as the host venue for the four-time FIFA World Cup-winning USWNT, which will face Paraguay on Sept. 21. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., officials announced Wednesday.
“The work never stops and every game we play has meaning,” head coach Vlatko Andonovski said in a news release. “These games are important to welcome back our Olympic Team to play in front of our home fans, but they are also the first steps towards 2023 World Cup qualifying. We all know we have to be at the top of our game to win at the highest levels and the dedication of the entire group to that pursuit will never change.”
The match in Cincinnati was one of four games expected to be announced this week, and will be the second of the four autumn friendlies to be played by the USWNT.
On Sept. 16, the USWNT will face Paraguay at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.
The USWNT will then move on to play Korea Republic Oct. 21 and Oct. 26 in Kansas City, Kansas and St. Paul, Minnesota, respectively.
The match at TQL Stadium would likely see local product Rose Lavelle make her competitive return to the Cincinnati region, but she wouldn't necessarily be the star attraction.
Carli Lloyd, one of the most decorated USWNT players in team history, will play her final games for the national team over the course of the four friendly matches after she announced her retirement on Monday.
The match is the first visit to Cincinnati by U.S. Soccer for a match since a Men's National Team friendly against Venezuela on June 9, 2019.
Local officials and U.S. Soccer announced July 28 in Cincinnati that TQL Stadium will host the famed U.S.-versus-Mexico men's match Nov. 12. The game is a pivotal qualifying match for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
FC Cincinnati, which now calls the 26,000-capacity TQL Stadium its home stadium after playing for five seasons at the University of Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium, has been a catalyst for making Cincinnati a destination for U.S. Soccer.
U.S. Soccer in Cincinnati during the FC Cincinnati era
• Sept. 19, 2017 - Friendly: USWNT 5, New Zealand 0 (Nippert Stadium, turf surface)
• June 9, 2019 - Friendly: USMNT 0, Venezuela 3 (Nippert Stadium, temporary grass surface)
• Sept. 21 (7:30 p.m.) - Friendly: USWNT vs. Paraguay (TQL Stadium, hybrid grass surface)
• Nov. 12 - Concacaf World Cup qualifier: USMNT vs. Mexico (TQL Stadium, hybrid grass surface)
For the USWNT program, the match at TQL Stadium marks their fifth-ever visit to Cincinnati. It's also their second trip to the Queen City in the FC Cincinnati era after a friendly against New Zealand on Sept. 19, 2017.
The American women won the match, 5-0. The game was staged at the University of Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium, and Lavelle started the match.
The USWNT played at the Bengals' Paul Brown Stadium in 2008 and 2004USWNT's first-ever visit to Cincinnati occurred in June 1993 for a match against Canada.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the number of times the U.S. women's national team played in Cincinnati. In fact, the USWNT's first-ever visit to Cincinnati occurred in June 1993 for a match against Canada, and September's game will be their fifth match in the city.
Source link
