United States Women’s National Team will face off against New Zealand for RIO Olympics 2016 on Wednesday
The United States Women’s National Team will be playing against New Zealand on Wednesday night in their first match for the Summer Olympics. The USWNT has looked sharp this season, sweeping through the World Cup with relative ease. The United States is the big favorite in this fixture. The match between the United States and New Zealand will take place on Wednesday, August 3, 2016, at 3:00 p.m. ET at the Estadio Governador Magalhaes Pinto in Belo Horizonte. The fixture will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network.
New Zealand will be a longshot to score a goal in this fixture. The team has two wins this year. They have one win on the road over Portugal and one win against Papua New Guinea. The the Football Ferns did put up good fights in a 1-0 loss to Brazil and a 1-1 draw in Melbourne against Australia. The one New Zealand woman to watch out for will be Hannah Wilkinson. She is 24 years young and has 23 goals in 74 soccer games for her country. She did go to college at the University of Tennessee, so many of the Americans are familiar playing against her.
The United States Women’s National Team has been in good form and is 14-1-0 so far this year. Also, the USWNT has posted shutouts in five of its last six matches and 13 of the 15 in 2016. Thus far, the US women have outscored their opponents by a 23-0 margin. Head coach Jill Ellis will be playing Hope Solo in the pipes as usual. Also, forwards Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd will be the attacking options for the team. Christen Press will likely start up front alongside Morgan, while Tobin Heath will join Lloyd, Rapinoe and likely Lindsey Horan in the midfield. Becky Sauerbrunn, Ali Krieger and Kelley O’Hara will be three of the four defenders, though the fourth choice for Ellis will be interesting between Julie Johnston and Meghan Klingenberg. Top Sports Blog thinks that the Americans will use defensive tactics and overwhelm the New Zealand team. We don’t see New Zealand scoring a goal in this fixture.
