The U.S. women’s soccer team’s first home games of 2023 will be in the annual SheBelieves Cup tournament, against a trio of marquee opponents.
Canada, Brazil and Japan will visit for the round-robin tournament in mid-February, with games set for the soccer stadiums in Orlando, Fla., Nashville, Tenn., and Frisco, Texas.
None of the teams need much introduction to U.S. fans. Canada, ranked No. 6 in FIFA’s global standings, is the Americans’ chief geographic rival, and the reigning Olympic gold medalists. Ninth-ranked Brazil features star playmakers Debinha and Kerolin, and could have superstar Marta back from an ACL injury that sidelined her last March. Japan, ranked No. 11, isn’t quite as good as the team that reached World Cup finals in 2011 and 2015, but its skilled passing game has always given the U.S. trouble.
The FIFA rankings only measure so much, since they’re based on a computed formula. But it counts for something that by those rankings, the strength of this SheBelieves Cup field is the strongest since 2019. The following year’s tournament was the last before the COVID-19 pandemic started to upend global travel.
Along with the benefits of hosting three traditional powers, playing the tournament in a span of seven days (plus a few days of training before kickoff) replicates the cadence of a World Cup’s group stage.
“We love the SheBelieves Cup for the world-class competition it brings, the format that helps replicate group play at a World Cup and the overall meaning that it has for our team and women’s sports,” U.S. manager Vlatko Andonovski said in a statement. “Obviously, you get more rest days in a World Cup, but managing a roster with three games over seven days against teams with three very different styles of play is really good preparation for us as we continue to grow as a team towards next summer.”
Andonovski also gave a hint about the rest of the U.S.’ pre-World Cup schedule, which starts with two games at New Zealand next month: “The first five games of the 2023 schedule will all be against teams playing in the World Cup and we expect to confirm a few more matches against top opponents before we go to New Zealand during the summer.”
The SheBelieves Cup games are set for Thursday, Feb. 16 in Orlando (Japan-Brazil and U.S.-Canada); Sunday, Feb. 19 in Nashville (U.S.-Japan and Brazil-Canada); and Wednesday, Feb. 22 in Frisco (Canada-Japan and U.S.-Brazil).
Nashville will be an enticing trip for traveling fans: It will be the first visit by any U.S. national team to 30,000-seat GEODIS Park, which opened last year a few miles south of downtown. (Locals there need no reminding that the Union’s Mikael Uhre scored the first goal in the stadium’s history.)
Some fans might be annoyed with the U.S. Soccer Federation taking games to states with laws that restrict abortion and/or harm LGTBQ+ people — including children specifically in some cases. But so many states have such laws on the books at this point that picking venues on that basis would severely limit potential venues. And the weather in February takes even more off the board.
When the U.S. women played in Texas during last February’s SheBelieves Cup, several players wore wristbands with the message “Protect Trans Kids.” Catarina Macario was one of them, and when she scored a goal she showed her wristband to nearby cameras.
“With the platform we have, we really wanted to show why this team is different and why we do things that are much bigger than just the game,” Macario said at the time. “It was just a way to show awareness, especially because we were playing in Texas. I wanted to make sure everyone was able to see it, and it wasn’t just another thing getting [swept] under the rug.”
2023 SheBelieves Cup schedule
All times listed are Eastern. Broadcast details are still to be announced.
— Thursday, Feb. 16: Japan vs. Brazil (4 p.m.) and United States vs. Canada (7 p.m.) at Exploria Stadium, Orlando, Fla.
— Sunday, Feb. 19: United States vs. Japan (3:30 p.m.) and Brazil vs. Canada (6:30 p.m.) at GEODIS Park, Nashville, Tenn.
— Wednesday, Feb. 22: Canada vs. Japan (4 p.m.) and United States vs. Brazil (7 p.m.) at Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas
