IRELAND WOMEN ARE set to come face to face with World Cup champions USA at the Rose Bowl in California this August, according to reports.
It would act as Jill Ellis’ side’s first game after yesterday’s 2-0 decider win over the Netherlands in Lyon, and a huge boost for women’s football in Ireland as the wait to reach a first-ever major tournament goes on.
The Irish Independent’s Ger Keville first reported the news yesterday, revealing that Ireland — without a manager after Colin Bell’s recent surprise departure — will travel Stateside for five days for the glamour friendly.
American journalists have since reported the news, with LA Times sportswriter Kevin Baxter writing that for the USA’s first game of a “multi-match victory tour,” the “opponent is tentatively expected to be Ireland”.
Ireland last played the USA in an international friendly in January 2016, losing 5-0 at the Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, while they were on the wrong end of a 3-0 result in San Jose in May 2015.
The iconic Rose Bowl in northern Los Angeles is set to play host to their next duel, with a capacity of just over 90,000 having housed the Super Bowl five times.
It would be a big step for women’s football in this country and a huge coup for the Ireland WNT ahead of their Euro 2021 qualifiers, where they’ve been grouped with Germany, Ukraine, Montenegro and Greece.
They’ll take confidence from their last World Cup qualifiers too, in which they drew with 2018 finalists the Netherlands, while Norway — the other team that prevailed from their group — reached the quarter-finals in France.
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