United States WNT headed to Denver for friendly games against Japan
The United States Women’s National Team are playing a very competitive Japan in a pair of matches. The United States women are going to be busy first in Denver, then in Cleveland. The USWNT beat Japan women’s national football team to win the 2015 World Cup. the American women are favorites in this fixture, but aren’t necessarily the better team by a massive margin. The game between the United States and Japan is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 2, 2016 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The fixture will be televised on FOX Sports 1.
Japan women’s national football team has disappointing of late. Japan really struggled in Olympics qualifying, losing to Australia and China while drawing against South Korea. They didn’t qualify for the Olympics, but this Japanese team is quite good. Japan have veterans midfielder Mizuho Sakaguchi and striker Yuki Ogimi both having scored against the United States in past games. Ogimi is quite dangerous up front with 57 goals in 130 fixtures for her country. The Japanese defensive team has a lot of experience with four players that have at least 70 Caps. If the Japanese are lacking somewhere, it’s in the goalkeeper position. Last year in the World Cup Final, goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori allowed five to get past her. She’s not guaranteed to play in this match, however there isn’t a goalkeeper for Japan with more than 20 matches of experience.
The United States Women’s National Team is having a great year so far. They’re 11-0-0 and have conceded exactly one goal in those matches. They just ripped through Colombia by an aggregate of 10-0 in two matches in April. The USWNT should have a great team once again for this fixture. The USMNT defender Becky Sauerbrunn has turned out to be a good captain for this team. Midfielder Heather O’Reilly has a lot of experience and will be playing in her 230th career game in an American uniform on Thursday night. Forward Alex Morgan is up front as well, though the hole here could be to her opposite side. Rodriguez and Leroux are not playing due to pregnancies so forwards Christen Press has stepped in along with Crystal Dunn. The chemistry for these players isn’t quite there yet, but they are very talented and should work it out.
Top Sports Blog noticed even though Japan has been disappointing, the Americans have a lot of really close wins against the elite teams in the world of late. In the SheBelieves Cup in March, the USWNT three wins against England, France and Germany were by a single goal. Japan has a way of breaking down this American defense which most haven’t seen in recent years. We do think Japan will not win, but will manage to get one goal in this first of two matches.
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