Preview: U.S. Women's National Team take on Chile for the first time in history
The USWNT will play their final two games against Chile before the World Cup qualifiers. Tonight, their performance will take place at the StubHub Center in Carson City, CA. With this being the first meeting between the two teams, the U.S are hopeful for positive results as the No. 1 team in the world as Chile is placed 39 in FIFA rankings.
In a pre-game ceremony, California native forward Christen Press will be honored for becoming the 37th player to reach 100 caps for the U.S. since making her debut in February 2013.
“I think this is a fantastic opportunity for our team to prepare for qualifying," said Press. "In a lot of ways, we focus on us and what we need to do in these games to have a successful performance and a successful result, but also take with us into the next tournament the last touches and the details of fine tuning before we go into what’s the biggest tournament of the year.”
Preparation for what’s ahead
The U.S. has been on a consistent winning streak since the 2017 Tournament of Nations and with facing an unknown opponent, this match will bring to light where Chile stands as a team since they have also qualified for the first time with their second-place success in the 2018 Copa America Femenina.
“I think this is a great team to work on ball movement, they like to press at times and have the confidence to play out,” stated head coach Jill Ellis. “So, I’d like to see us have more output on the chances we create and I think defensively just to continue to work on our mentality in our collective team defending.”
Injured players make their return
The U.S has had several key players deal with injury conflicts, but some are making their return to the pitch after recovering from severe injuries. Forward Mallory Pugh was absent from the NWSL and the USWNT due to a knee injury, but is hopeful for what lies ahead.
“Honestly, it’s just another preparation game for us before qualifying so obviously, we want to try and win, but we’re looking to do a lot in preparation for that as a team,” Pugh said. “For me personally it’s just good to be back and get into the mix again.”
Defender Kelley O’Hara suffered from a hamstring injury and hasn’t played with the U.S since the She Believes Cup in March and this past weekend came back to join the Utah Royals FC.
“I think with Mal coming back in, Kelley coming back in, we’ve been able to see them in training for a couple of days and with the corporation of our medical team its then establishing what we think is reasonable and safe in terms of minutes for the returning players," Ellis said. "Overall, I think we’ve had a good two to three days of training and they have shown very well, the players that have been out.”
This past Monday, it was announced that forward Megan Rapinoe would not be on the roster due to a rib injury during Week 22 of the NWSL. From Rapinoe’s absence Ellis called up forward Amy Rodriguez, who has recorded 131 caps and has been active with the Royals since coming back from an ACL tear.
The match will kick off at 8 p.m. ET and will be aired on ESPN2.
Interview quotes were reported with media credentials by Jackie Gutierrez at SubHub Center on Aug. 30 with Prost Amerika Soccer.
