Women’s soccer keeping edge for next World Cup
The next major women’s soccer tournament is not until 2019, but that doesn’t mean the U.S. team is waiting around to play the top teams.
Coach Jill Ellis’ squad welcomes three of the world’s top eight teams to the West Coast this week and next for the inaugural Tournament of Nations.
The U.S., Brazil, Japan and Australia will play a round-robin competition — one doubleheader at a time — beginning Thursday at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. Brazil will face Japan at 6:15 p.m. and the U.S. and Australia will kick off at 9 p.m.
The tournament shifts to San Diego on Sunday and finally to Carson, Calif., on Aug. 3.
“Playing Brazil, Australia and Japan will likely present scenarios and create emotions similar to our recent matches against Norway and Sweden — matches against top teams that will push us in all phases of play,” Ellis said.
The winner will be determined by the most points gained from the three games. It is the same format the U.S. used in the SheBelieves Cup in March.
U.S. Soccer plans to host the SheBelieves Cup and the Tournament of Nations every year that does not feature the FIFA World Cup or Olympics.
The two competitions, combined with a visit by Canada in the fall, means all seven of the teams behind the USA in FIFA’s rankings will play in the United States this year.
The next World Cup is in 2019 in France. The next Olympics is in 2020 in Japan.
“If you look at our overall World Cup cycle in the context of a single season, we’re in preseason right now,” Ellis said. “Cohesion and chemistry are elements we build on once we assemble the core group that we believe can help us be successful at CONCACAF qualifying and moving onto the World Cup in France.”
Three Dash players are on the U.S. 23-woman roster for the Tournament of Nations. Midfielders Carli Lloyd and Morgan Brian are regulars with the national team. Rookie goalkeeper Jane Campbell is relatively new with her first cap coming in April.
Three other Dash players also will compete: goalkeeper Lydia Williams (Australia), midfielder Andressinha (Brazil) and defender Bruna Benites (Brazil).