USWNT to face South Africa on July 9 in Chicago for Olympics tune-up

CHICAGO (Via U.S. Soccer) – The first of two final matches before the U.S. Women’s National Team departs for the 2016 Olympics has been confirmed as the USA will play South Africa on July 9 at Soldier Field in Chicago. The match will kick off at 12 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on FS1.

Following the game in Chicago, the U.S. team will take a final break and then regroup for a last match prior to traveling to Brazil. The details of that game will be announced shortly. At the 2016 Olympics, the USA will face New Zealand (Aug. 3), France (Aug. 6) and Colombia (Aug. 9) in Group G play.

The match against South Africa will be the first meeting between the two countries in women’s international play and will also mark just the second African country the USA has faced in its history. The Americans have played Nigeria four times, all in World Cup or Olympic competition.

“We’re very excited to play a country that we’ve never faced before as well as get a game against another team that will be competing in the Olympics,” said U.S. head coach Jill Ellis. “We are going to really embrace these last two opportunities to play in front of our home fans before we go to Brazil.”

Additional Notes:

• The USA is 11-0-0 in 2016 heading into its next two matches against Japan, on June 2 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo. (7 p.m. MT on FS1) and on June 5 at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland (12:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2).
• The match in Colorado is sold out while more than 20,000 tickets have been sold for the match in Cleveland.
• South Africa, which qualified for its second consecutive Olympic Women’s Soccer Tournament, was drawn into a difficult Group E with Brazil, China and Sweden.
• In its first women’s FIFA event at the 2012 Olympics, South Africa did not advance out of its group, falling 4-1 to Sweden and losing 3-0 to Canada, but then drawing 0-0 with eventual silver medalist Japan.
• The U.S. Women have played 11 matches in Chicago, but have not played at Soldier Field since 2007.
• The USA has never lost in Chicago, home to the U.S. Soccer Federation headquarters, going 4-0-1 at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill., and 6-0-0 at Soldier Field. Four of those matches came before the massive renovation of the stadium, which originally opened in 1924. The WNT’s most recent visit to the historic venue resulted in a 6-1 victory against New Zealand on Aug. 12, 2007.