The Republic of Ireland Women’s National Team will be hosted by the US Women’s National Team for two friendlies this April ahead of the 2023 Women's World Cup.
Ireland will take on the US, the reigning world champions, at the Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas April 8 before playing a second soccer friendly at the brand-new CITYPARK in St. Louis, Missouri on April 11.
See you soon, @USWNT 😉
April 8th - Austin, TX
— FAIreland ⚽️🇮🇪 (@FAIreland) February 23, 2023
April 11th - St. Louis, MO#COYGIG pic.twitter.com/Y84jOgligo
In October, Ireland qualified for the Women's World Cup for the first time ever when they topped Scotland at Hampden Park in Glasgow.
Irish manager Vera Pauw’s squad has already faced Morocco, Germany, and China PR since the World Cup draw was made to put them in Group B at this summer’s tournament, and these two friendlies in the US are being added to a schedule that also includes home matches against Zambia (June 22) and France (July 6).
Ireland's doubleheader with the US will be the first meeting between the teams since August 2019 and will act as the 14th and 15th games overall.
Pauw said: “When we qualified for the World Cup, we immediately set to work on preparing the best possible schedule to ensure that our team faced the type of challenges and intensity that they will need to cope with in Australia.
"We believe that we have the best program to prepare for our first-ever World Cup.
“The opportunity to play two games against the number one team in the world is fantastic for us as it will put us under the kind of pressure that we need to experience as a team. We will benefit so much more from playing against top-quality teams as those games help us to raise our performance and learn how to adapt in difficult situations.
“The quality that the USA is pretty clear to see with their recent history, their strength in depth, and having a very good Head Coach, so we are excited to play these two games. We also know that there are a lot of fans in the United States with Irish connections, so we hope that they will come out to support us.”
The April friendlies will be the final international matches for the USWNT players before head coach Vlatko Andonovski and his staff choose the USA’s 23-player World Cup roster later in the spring.
Andonovski said: “Ireland is a highly motivated, hard-working team that has talented players with big hearts who I know are really excited to be representing their country in a World Cup.
“The two games will be a great test at a crucial time in our team’s run to the World Cup. While there will be plenty of league games for us to watch after April, these will be the final matches for our players with the National Team before we have to pick the World Cup roster, so they will carry that importance.”
Presales for both matches will begin on Monday, February 27 with the public sale beginning on Monday, March 6. Dependent on remaining ticket availability, groups of 20 or more can order at USSoccer.com starting Tuesday, March 7.
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