USWNT to play Spain friendly on Oct. 11

Football

The United States women’s national team will play Spain on Oct. 11 (2:30 p.m. ET) in Pamplona to complete a two-game European tour that begins with a match vs. England in London on Oct. 7.

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This will be the fourth time the USWNT will play La Roja and just the second time playing in Spain and will wrap up the trip.

Spain was a pre-tournament favorite at the Euros but lost two top attacking players, Jenni Hermoso and Alexia Putellas, to injury prior to the start of the competition. Spain is ranked eighth in the world and England is currently fourth.

The teams met for the first time ever in January of 2019, a 1-0 victory for the USA in Alicante, Spain, which was followed later in the year by a 2-1 U.S. victory in the Round of 16 at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.

The teams most recently met at the 2020 SheBelieves Cup, a 1-0 U.S. victory which featured a dramatic 87th minute game-winning header from Julie Ertz.

Spain was just minutes away from knocking out host England in the quarterfinals of the 2022 UEFA Women’s Euro before an 86th-minute equalizer from Ella Toone sent the match to overtime for a 2-1 victory for England. The Lionesses then went on win the tournament, defeating Germany 2-1 in overtime.

“I know Spain fell short of their goals at the Euros, but they are a fantastic team, one of the best in the world, with world class players all over the field and as a coaching staff, we are really looking forward to the challenges these two games will present for our team,” said U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski.

“Away matches against England and Spain are among the most difficult and high-profile friendlies a team can play and having those experiences will be valuable in many different ways for our continuing preparations for the World Cup.”

Spain is one of nine European teams to have qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The USWNT’s win streak is now at 13 after back-to-back victories over Nigeria last week in the United States.

The USWNT qualified for both the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics via a five-game run of wins at the Concacaf W Championship in Mexico that concluded with a 1-0 victory over Canada in the championship game on July 18.

The match vs. England in London will be England’s first meeting with the USWNT since the group stages of the SheBelieves Cup back in March 2020.

Phil Neville was manager of the team then, and he oversaw a 2-0 defeat with Christen Press and Carli Lloyd both scoring.

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