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Entertainment

Checking In On What The USWNT Has Been Up To Ahead Of First Match Of 2019

By Travis Yoesting January 18, 2019
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The USWNT has had a goofy and inspiring build-up to its friendly against France on Saturday.
@ussoccer_wnt | Twitter

The USWNT is hard at work preparing to defend its World Cup title from four years ago. The players arrived for the first camp of the year in the first week of January, and their first match is Saturday against third-ranked France. Before the World Cup kicks off in June, the U.S. women will play 10 matches in 10 different cities. 

So what has the USWNT been up to in the lead-up to what is undoubtedly its toughest World Cup friendly? 

Let’s check in, looking at the last couple weeks of USWNT Twitter posts.

2019 Begins

The USWNT gathered in southern Portugal on Jan. 6 to begin its January camp, the first time ever such a camp has been held in Europe. With France hosting the 2019 World Cup, coach Jill Ellis and U.S. Soccer wanted to start the European acclimation process early. In fact, it began at the end of 2018 with friendlies against Portugal and Scotland, both rare road matches. 

Here’s a mic’d-up look at the start of the USWNT’s training in 2019.

Not all the time in Portugal was spent on the pitch. A few players spent time with legendary broadcaster Andres Cantor, who will be covering the World Cup this summer.

And here’s another training hype video, just because they’re so cool.

There was also some big news from stateside for the team. USWNT defender Tierna Davidson was chosen with the first pick of the 2019 NWSL College Draft on Jan. 10. 

Davidson wasn’t able to attend the draft because she was training with the national team, but she was able to carve out time to record a video of thanks for being drafted, the sixth straight USWNT player to go No. 1 in the NWSL draft. 

Fun And Games

While much of the January camp was focused on preparing for France (both the team and the tournament this summer), there were good times to be had. Just check out these goofballs.

Our personal favorite bit from the USWNT over this period was the return of the BFF Quiz, which is definitely worth a full watch. But we have to say, as a Boulder-based company, we don’t understand Lindsey Horan’s choice for her favorite restaurant in Denver, even if fellow Denver native Mal Pugh correctly guessed it. (The USWNT will be in Denver on April 4 to play Australia, so check out Thump while they’re in town and maybe you’ll see the reigning NWSL MVP there.)

Inspiration

The real highlight of the USWNT’s January camp was on Wednesday, when the players traveled to Normandy to meet with some World War II veterans, including 99-year-old Steve Melnikoff, who stormed the very same beach they were on 75 years ago on D-Day. 

“It was the most humbling thing I’ve ever been a part of,” Carli Lloyd said. “They literally saved the world.”

You should check out the entire Twitter thread from the USWNT account from Wednesday. We’ll just post the first post here so as to not take up too much space.

How To Watch USWNT vs France

With that, the USWNT finished preparations to play France in a friendly on Saturday. The match will kick off at 2:45 p.m. ET and be broadcast on both FS1 (English) and UDN (Spanish). (Don’t be fooled when you see advertisements for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff, because, as we’ve discussed before, U.S. Soccer matches never kick off when they say they will.)

The USWNT will also play against Spain on Tuesday. That match will kick off at 2:30 p.m. ET and be broadcast by ESPN2 and UDN.

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