Report: USMNT to host Venezuela, Ghana in tune-up friendlies
As tune-ups to two different competitions, the U.S. men's national team will reportedly play Venezuela and Ghana on home soil.
ESPNFC is reporting that the U.S. will play Venezuela at Real Salt Lake's Rio Tinto Stadium on June 3 prior to two World Cup qualifiers against Trinidad & Tobago and Mexico. The following month, the U.S. will host World Cup nemesis Ghana at Connecticut's Rentschler Field on July 1 ahead of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
With the U.S. resuming World Cup qualifying at the Colorado Rapids' Dick's Sporting Goods Park and Mexico at Estadio Azteca, playing Venezuela at Rio Tinto offers another high-altitude test for Bruce Arena's side. Venezuela has already been eliminated from contention for the 2018 World Cup but reached the quarterfinals of the 2016 Copa America Centenario and features the likes of Atlanta United striker Josef Martinez and West Brom's Salomon Rondon.
Ghana, which is playing Mexico in a June 28 friendly at NRG Stadium in Houston, will then take on the U.S. as part of its summer trip. The Black Stars bested the U.S. in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups before the Americans earned a measure of revenge in their opening group game of the 2014 World Cup, thanks to John Brooks's late header.
The U.S. will then go on to face Panama, Martinique and Nicaragua in the group stage of the Gold Cup.
