US women to host Colombia for 2 matches in June

Published Apr. 21, 2022 7:16 p.m. ET
Associated Press

The U.S. women's national team will host a pair of matches against Colombia in June as it prepares for World Cup qualifying.

The games will be held in Commerce City, Colorado, on June 25 and Sandy, Utah, on June 28, U.S. Soccer announced Thursday.

The U.S. will then head to Monterrey, Mexico, in July for the CONCACAF W Championship tournament. The top four finishers in the tournament will earn spots in the 2023 Women's World Cup cohosted by Australia and New Zealand. The winner in Mexico will also secure a berth at the 2024 Olympics.

The United States is the top-ranked women's team in the world and the defending World Cup champion.

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Colombia, ranked No. 26, is preparing for the 2022 Copa America Femenina, which will determine three World Cup berths.

“Colombia has a good chance to make it to the World Cup and both teams will be in our final preparations for our qualifying tournaments, so I expect some highly competitive matches between players who are competing to represent their countries in some really important games,” U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski said in a statement. “When we get to Colorado, we’ll be coming off a stretch of more than two months that the players have been with their clubs and away from the National Team environment, so we’ll be looking to get maximum value out of our last days and games together before we go to Mexico for qualifying.”

The United States has a 7-0-1 record against Colombia. The Americans won the last two in January 2021.

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