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U.S. Soccer will host the eighth annual SheBelieves Cup from February 16 to February 22 as Brazil, Canada and Japan join the USWNT to compete in the four-team international tournament.
All four participants are ranked in the top 11 of the World, with the United States at number one, Canada in sixth, Brazil in ninth and Japan in 11th. The teams will use the tournament as preparation for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which kicks off in July 2023.
“The first five games of the 2023 schedule will all be against teams playing in the World Cup and we expect to confirm a few more matches against top opponents before we go to New Zealand during the summer,” said USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski.
“We love the SheBelieves Cup for the world class competition it brings, the format that helps replicate group play at a World Cup and the overall meaning that it has for our team and women’s sports. Obviously, you get more rest days in a World Cup, but managing a roster with three games over seven days against teams with three very different styles of play is really good preparation for us as we continue to grow as a team towards next summer.”
The 2021 and 2022 editions of the tournament were previously altered due to COVID-19 protocols. But the upcoming competition will return to its traditional three-venue format with matches set at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida, GEODIS Park in Nashville, Tennessee, and Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
The matches of the 2023 SheBelieves Cup will be the first domestic games of the World Cup year for the USWNT. Head coach Vlatko Andonovski will name a 23-player roster for the tournament.
The six-game tournament initially kicked off in 2016. The USA won the inaugural edition, before France lifted the trophy in 2017 and England in 2019. But the USWNT returned to its winning ways in 2018, 2021 and 2022.
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