The U.S. women’s national team has announced it will face Sweden in a friendly on April 10 at Friends Arena in Stockholm.
The match will be the first of two during the April FIFA international window, with U.S. Soccer saying the USWNT is currently finalizing a second match in Europe on April 13.
USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski will be facing Sweden for the second time, having started his tenure in November 2019 with a 3-2 victory over the Swedes.
What was said?
“We want to play as many of the top teams as possible to prepare for the Olympics and Sweden certainly falls into that category,” Andonovski said in a news release.
“They are proven winners, have tremendously athletic players, are led by an excellent coach and are tactically savvy and experienced. We need as many tests as possible like the ones we’ll face at the Olympics and these games in Europe will give us that.
"We only have a few matches left before we have to pick the Olympic team so we need the players to show how they can impact the success of our team and we need to see them do it against world class teams.”
What is the history between the USWNT and Sweden?
The USWNT has played Sweden 40 times in its history, winning 23 of those games while losing six and drawing 11.
The two teams have been drawn together in the group stage at the past four World Cups, with the USWNT defeating Sweden 2-0 in group play at the 2019 World Cup.
Sweden also knocked the USWNT out of the most recent Olympics in 2016, defeating the U.S. in the quarter-finals as the Americans finished without a medal for the first time ever.
What's next for the USWNT?
After the team takes part in two April friendlies, it has three games scheduled between June 10 and 16 in the Tournament of Nations.
That will be the final chance Andonovski has to evaluate his squad before picking his 18-player roster for the Olympics, which begin in July.
With just five games remaining before the Olympic roster deadline of June 30, players on the roster bubble will be hoping to impress Andonovski with the opportunities they get.
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