USWNT to host Tournament of Nations this summer on West Coast

CHICAGO (Via U.S. Soccer) – U.S. Soccer and the U.S. Women’s National Team will host their second four-team elite international tournament of the year as Australia, Brazil and Japan come to the USA for the Tournament of Nations to be held from July 27-August 3 at three venues along the West Coast.

After hosting the SheBelieves Cup last March, the USA will once again welcome three of the world’s top women’s teams for a round-robin tournament that features three doubleheaders. The USA is currently ranked second in the world, Japan is tied for sixth, Australia is eighth and Brazil is ninth.

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By bringing these three elite women’s soccer nations to the United States, the tournament will continue to shine a spotlight on the growing competitive stature of the women’s game and its ability to create connections across geography and culture. This tournament will celebrate some of the world’s premier women’s soccer players, many of whom compete in the National Women’s Soccer League, as it emphasizes a sense of worldliness and diversity among fans of the teams and the sport while facilitating global connections and respect both on and off the pitch.

U.S. Soccer plans to host this tournament every summer during years that do not feature a Women’s World Cup or Olympic Games. Next year’s tournament will feature the same four teams.

SAID U.S. HEAD COACH JILL ELLIS:
“It’s fantastic to play another tournament at home against some of the world’s best teams in a year after the world championship cycle, and it shows U.S. Soccer’s continuing dedication to growing the women’s game. These are three talented teams that we haven’t played in a while so we’re looking forward to a summer tournament that will be extremely challenging and valuable for our players and entertaining for the fans.”

TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The tournament format is same as the SheBelieves Cup with the four teams each participating in three doubleheader events at three different venues over an eight-day period. The match days will see Brazil open against Japan on Thursday, July 27 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle (4:15 p.m. PT), followed by the USA against Australia (7 p.m. PT on ESPN). All the teams will then travel to down to San Diego where Japan will face Australia on Sunday, July 30 (2:15 p.m. PT) followed by the USA taking on Brazil (5 p.m. PT on ESPN2) at Qualcomm Stadium. The tournament will finish on Thursday, August 3, at StubHub Center at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center as Australia takes on Brazil (4:15 p.m. PT) and the USA faces Japan (7 p.m. PT on ESPN2).

The winner of the tournament will be based on total points (three for a win, one for a tie), with the first tie-breaker being overall goal difference, followed by most total tournament goals scored, then head-to-head result and lastly, FIFA Ranking if necessary.

2017 TOURNAMENT OF NATIONS SCHEDULE

Additional notes:

• The meeting with Australia marks the first since June 8, 2015, in group play at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a match in which Megan Rapinoe scored in the 12th minute only to see Lisa DeVanna equalize in the 27th minute. Two second half goals, one from Christen Press and a clincher from Rapinoe, saw the USA to victory in a game that sparked the World Cup-winning run.
• The USA is 25-0-2 all-time against the Matildas, who made it to the quarterfinal of the Women’s World Cup before falling 1-0 to Japan. Australia also made to the quarterfinal of the 2016 Olympic tournament, but fell to Brazil in a penalty kick shootout that went eight players deep.
• The USA last faced Brazil in a pair of games in October of 2015, drawing 1-1 in Seattle and winning 3-1 in Orlando, Fla. Carli Lloyd scored the USA’s lone goal at CenturyLink Field while Alex Morgan, Crystal Dunn and Stephanie McCaffrey scored at the Citrus Bowl.
• The USA is 26-3-5 all-time against Brazil in a series that has featured some epic matches, including the gold medal games of the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, both U.S. wins in overtime, a semifinal loss for the USA at the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup and a penalty kick win during the quarterfinal at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup that featured Abby Wambach’s last gasp header in overtime, one of the famous goals in U.S. history.
• The teams also met in the semifinal of the 1999 Women’s World Cup and 2000 Olympics.
• Brazil lost in a penalty kick shootout to Sweden in the semifinal of the 2016 Olympics and then lost to Canada in the bronze medal game.
• The USA last played Japan in a pair of friendlies in June of 2016, getting goals from Alex Morgan (2) and Lindsey Horan in a 3-3 draw in Commerce City, Colorado, as Japan scored the equalizer in stoppage time, and winning 2-0 in Cleveland, Ohio, on goals from Julie Johnston and Alex Morgan. Those were the first matches between the teams since the historic 2015 Women’s World Cup Final.
• The USA has a record of 26-1-7 against Japan with just 11 of those games having taken place on U.S. soil. The USA is 7-0-4 against Japan in the United States.
• The U.S. Women have rarely ventured to Seattle, but did play at CenturyLink field in October of 2015 and came out with a 1-1 draw against Brazil. It was just one of four games the USA has played in the state of Washington, two coming during qualifying for the 2003 FIFA Women’s World Cup when the CONCACAF tournament was in part played at SAFECO Field, and two friendlies against Brazil, the aforementioned match at CenturyLink and a 1995 match at Franklin Pierce High School in Tacoma.
• The USA returns to San Diego for its seventh match in America’s Finest City and third at Qualcomm Stadium. The U.S. Women most recently played at Qualcomm in January of 2016, a 5-0 win against the Republic of Ireland that featured a hat trick from Carli Lloyd, a goal from Alex Morgan and the debut of the then 17-year-old Mallory Pugh, who came off the bench to score in her first cap.
• The USA played four games at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego between 2003 and 2010 and played China PR at Qualcomm in April of 2014, a 3-0 win, in a match that Jill Ellis served as interim head coach before getting the job officially a few months later.
• The USA will return to StubHub Center just under eight months since the last visit. The most recent match at SHC was a 5-0 win vs. Romania on Nov. 13, 2016.
• The U.S. Women are familiar to the Southern California area, having played 21 matches in the region, 11 of them at StubHub Center, where the team has gone 11-0-0, scoring 42 goals and allowing just three.
• The U.S. WNT has played 38 games in California, most of any state, despite not playing the first one until 1996, 11 years after the program began.