Team USA Women’s Soccer: How To Watch America’s Favorite Team Now That World Cup Is Over
The FIFA 2015 Women’s World Cup is over, but that doesn’t mean the women’s soccer world champion Team USA is finished. Though celebrations of the thrilling USA victory over Japan in last Sunday’s final continue, with a ticker tape parade in New York City on Friday, the team will be back in action next month — and in January, Team USA begins its next round of high-stakes matches as it tries to qualify for the 2016 Olympics.
Lucky fans in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, will get the chance to see America’s newest national sports heroes — or more precisely, heroines — in person, as they play a pair of international friendly matches against Costa Rica.
The first of the two games is scheduled for August 16 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time. That match will be televised by Fox Sports One, which also televised many of the games in the Women’s World Cup, as well as online by Fox Sports Go.
Three days later, Team USA again plays the Costa Rica women’s soccer squad, this time at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga. The August 19 match kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, and will be carried live by ESPN2, and live online by WatchESPN.
With the Team USA 2016 Olympic qualifying schedule starting on January 21, several more international friendly warm-up matches will likely be added to the calendar between August and the end of the year.
In the meantime, many of the star players take to the pitch for their club teams in the U.S.-based National Women’s Soccer League. Each of the league’s nine teams plays 20 games this year — down from a normal 24, to let star players join Team USA for the World Cup — with a schedule running through September 6.
The NWSL broadcasts its games live on YouTube at this link, with several games on various Fox channels as well, and has teams in nine major cities, including Boston, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
Want to catch a live look at Team USA captain, and scorer of three World Cup Final goals, Carli Lloyd in action? She plays for the Houston Dash of the NWSL. The team’s July 29 match against FC Kansas City will be carried live online by Fox Sports Go.
The game pits Lloyd against two of her Team USA comrades. Lauren Holiday also scored a goal in last Sunday’s World Cup Final — but then announced her retirement from the national team to focus on her commitment to FC Kansas City. Becky Sauerbrunn also features for the Kansas City NWSL franchise.
Fox Sports Go will also carry a Team USA Women’s Soccer bonanza on July 22, when it shows the Portland Thorns vs. Seattle Reign match live online. World Cup stars Alex Morgan and Tobin Heath — who scored the team’s fifth goal on Sunday — play for Seattle, while veteran midfielder Megan Rapinoe and goalkeeper Hope Solo feature for the Seattle side.
[Image: Harry How: Getty Images]
