THE FAI HAVE today confirm that Ireland will be the United States’ first post-World Cup opponents in a friendly game in Pasadena on Saturday, 3 August.

The game is the first leg of the States’ five-game victory tour in front of their home fans, following their 2-0 win over the Netherlands in last Sunday’s World Cup final in France. 

The clash will take place at the 92,500-capacity Rose Bowl in Pasadena, which was the venue for the men’s World Cup final of 1994 and, perhaps less famously, the final of the 1996 US Cup in which Ireland finished third. 

It kicks off at 7pm local time, which works out at 3am on Sunday, 4 August Irish time. 

“It’s a great opportunity for us to be asked to go over to play the USA”, says Irish captain Katie McCabe.

“It will be great preparation for us to test ourselves against the best in the world ahead of our European Championships campaign. Also, it will be good to get the squad back together after not having seen each other in a while. It will all help towards getting us ready for the game on September 3rd.”

The game on 3 September is Ireland’s first Euro 2021 qualifier against Montenegro at Tallaght Stadium. Ireland have never qualified for a major tournament, and have been drawn with Germany, Ukraine, Greece and Montenegro in their bid to qualify for a tournament to be hosted in England. 

Their task has been complicated by the surprise exit of manager Colin Bell, who has taken up a role as assistant coach with Huddersfield Town in the English Championship. 

The leading candidate to replace Bell is believed to be Dave Connell, who runs the Girls Emerging Talent Programme. 

Tickets for the friendly with the United States go on general sale on Saturday, 13 July at 10am Pacific Time (6pm Irish time) through ussoccer.com.