U.S. women’s national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski will hold his team’s training camp in New Zealand in January.
The camp will be capped by two matches against the Football Ferns, the 2023 Women’s World Cup co-hosts with Australia.
These will be the first matches in New Zealand for the U.S. squad.
The Americans will train in New Zealand for six days before facing the Ferns on January 18 at Sky Stadium in Wellington / Te Whanganui-a-Tara. The match will kick off at 4 p.m. local time, which will be 10 p.m. ET on Jan. 17 in the United States.
The teams meet again on Jan. 21 at Eden Park in Auckland / Tāmaki Makaurau, also at 4 p.m. local, which will be 10 p.m. ET on Jan. 20 in the states. With a new broadcast partner coming on board with U.S. Soccer in 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports will exclusively present these matches, with specific distribution plans to be announced at a later date.
The trip gives the U.S. players the rare chance to play full international matches at the venues which just six months later will host all three of the USWNT group games at the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
At the Women’s World Cup final draw in Auckland / Tāmaki Makaurau on Oct.22, the USA was placed into Group E, which meant it would face Vietnam on July 22 at Eden Park, the Netherlands on July 27 at Sky Stadium and the Group A playoff Winner on Aug. 1 back at Eden Park.
“Everything about this trip is a positive for our team ahead of the World Cup,” Andonovski said in a statement. “We will get some quality training time together and have two tough matches against a great opponent that is hosting the World Cup. We also get to experience the long travel and familiarize ourselves with the host cities, the stadiums, the training grounds and the culture, and hopefully we’ll play in front of some big crowds supporting the home team. It will be a great way to start the year.”
