The U.S. women’s soccer team will play Costa Rica in their final send-off match in July before travelling to Paris for the 2024 Olympics.
The match will be played on July 16 at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. (7:30 p.m. ET). It is part of USWNT’s four-match run-up to the Olympic Games under new coach Emma Hayes.
Hayes is scheduled to join the team in May after finishing her stint at Chelsea. The Englishwoman’s first match in charge of the team will be against South Korea on June 1 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado.
The United States is due to face South Korea again, on June 4, at Allianz Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota before the team travels to Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey to play neighbors Mexico on July 13.
U.S. Soccer said in a statement on Tuesday that the roster for the matches in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. will feature the Olympic squad.
The USWNT has faced Costa Rica 17 times, winning each time. The last meeting took place at the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship, where they won 3-0 in the quarterfinals, thanks to goals from Emily Sonnett, Mallory Swanson and Ashley Sanchez.
Olympics
The USWNT is in a challenging group at the Paris Games, paired alongside 2016 Olympic champions Germany, Australia and Zambia.
They begin their Olympic campaign against Zambia on July 25, nine days after their friendly against Costa Rica.
At the last Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, the U.S. settled for a bronze medal, while they returned empty-handed in Rio 2016. The U.S. has won four gold medals in women’s soccer at the Olympics, last triumphing at London 2012.
In an interview with me last week, US forward Alex Morgan said that the team wants to move on from its 2023 World Cup heartbreak and return to the top of the Olympic podium at this year’s Paris Games.
The USWNT suffered their worst-ever result at the Women’s World Cup last year as they were knocked out in the round of 16 by Sweden after a penalty shootout. The defeat, which ended their hopes of a “three-peat” of world titles, prompted concerns that the team’s best days were behind them.
Now as they gear up for the Olympic games, players will be keen to aim for the elusive gold medal in Paris. They have been in good form of late, having won the CONCACAF W Gold Cup and the SheBelieves Cup this year under the guidance of interim coach Twila Kilgore.
