Universal Sports Network to broadcast U.S. Women’s National Team games vs. Sweden and Japan on June 16 and 18

Universal Sports Network will provide exclusive coverage of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team at the Volvo Winners Cup, airing the Americans’ games against Sweden on June 16 and Japan on June 18. Along with televising both U.S. matches, Universal Sports Network will provide live online streaming free at UniversalSports.com.

The Sweden-USA match will air live on Saturday, June 16, 10 a.m. ET and USA-Japan will air delayed on Monday, June 18, also at 10 a.m. ET (the online stream will be live at 7 a.m. ET). Both U.S. matches will take place at Örjans Vall Stadium in Halmstad, Sweden.

The three-nation event features the top three finishers from last summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany and will give all three countries two excellent preparation matches heading into the Summer Olympics in London.

U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage recently named the 18-player U.S. roster that will compete in the Olympic games and brought that roster, plus the four named alternates, to Sweden for the two the matches.

Sweden and Japan feature some of the best players in the world, and the meetings with these countries will be the second and third meeting of the year, respectively, for the U.S. team.

The USA and Sweden played in the third-place match at the Algarve Cup last March with the Americans coming away with a 4-0 victory as Alex Morgan notched her first career hat trick and Abby Wambach added a goal.

The USA vs. Japan game will mark the third meeting of the year between the two 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup finalists with Japan coming away with a 1-0 victory at the Algarve Cup during group play while the teams tied 1-1 in Japan during the Kirin Challenge Cup at the beginning of April.

Calling the network’s tournament coverage will be veteran soccer commentator and Chivas USA announcer Christian Miles, and two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA World Cup champion Brandi Chastain.

“We are proud to showcase the U.S. Women’s National Team as it begins its quest for another Olympic gold medal,” said David Sternberg, CEO of Universal Sports. “Delivering top-flight Olympic-related programming to our viewers is at the heart of Universal Sports Network’s mission, and these two soccer matches are a perfect example of what we have to offer.”

2012 Volvo Winners Cup – U.S. Broadcast Schedule

The U.S. WNT will play its Olympic Send-Off match against Canada on June 30 at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. MT and the match will be broadcast live on NBC.

Universal Sports Network recently transitioned to a multi-platform, high definition cable, satellite and IPTV service. Currently, DIRECTV, DISH and numerous cable providers offer Universal Sports Network.