With less than two months until the start of the 2024 Summer Olympics, the U.S. Women’s National Team returns to action for two games against Korea Republic in what will also be the first games for new head coach Emma Hayes and the final matches before Hayes and her staff must select the final 18-player roster for Paris. The USA and Korea Republic will face off on Saturday, June 1 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado (5 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. MT on TNT, Universo, Max and Peacock) before traveling to St. Paul, Minnesota, where they will play on June 4 at Allianz Field in a match presented by Allstate (8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT on truTV, Universo, Max and Peacock).
Gear up as the USWNT starts its summer with Five Things to Know about USA vs. Korea Republic.
HAYES AT THE HELM
After spending the last 12 years in her home country building Chelsea FC into one of the most successful clubs in England and Europe, Hayes now starts her tenure as the 10th official head coach in U.S. Women’s National Team history. Hayes was officially announced as head coach in November but saw out the conclusion of the 2023-24 FA Women’s Super League Season with Chelsea and guided the Blues to a fifth consecutive WSL title before officially starting her tenure with the USA. Twila Kilgore guided the U.S. team over the past 14 matches as interim head coach and now joins Hayes’ staff as an assistant coach.
The fourth woman to serve as full-time head coach for the USWNT, Hayes launched her coaching career in the USA over 20 years ago. She began coaching at the youth levels and for the Long Island Lady Riders of the USL W-League before going on to serve as head coach at Iona College and then for the Chicago Red Stars in the WPS – the second iteration of women’s professional soccer in the United States.
KOREA REPUBLIC AS OF LATE
Hayes and the USA will be taking on a South Korea side that failed to qualify for Paris 2024, which would have been the program’s first ever trip to the Summer Olympics. Korea Republic was drawn into Group B for the Second Round of the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which took place in China in late October. With the three group winners and the top second-place finisher advancing to the next round, Korea Republic opened group play with an emphatic 10-1 win over Thailand, led by hat-tricks from American-born forward Casey Phair and 21-year-old forward Chun Garam. However, South Korea drew its next two matches against North Korea (0-0) and China PR (1-1) to finish second in the group and saw its Olympic hopes come to an end.
While Korea Republic has never qualified for an Olympics in women’s soccer, it has made four trips to the FIFA Women’s World Cup, including playing in each of the last three editions of the tournament. At the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Korea Republic finished last in a competitive Group H that also featured Colombia, Morocco and Germany. Korea Republic lost its opening two matches to Colombia (2-0) and Morocco (1-0), respectively, but picked up a point on the third and final match day against Germany, drawing the then second-ranked team in the world 1-1. The result sent Germany home after the group stage for its earliest ever exit at a Women’s World Cup.
INSIDE THE ROSTER
Korea Republic’s roster for these matches against the USA features many players from the 2023 World Cup squad, including midfielder Cho Sohyun, who scored the opening goal in the group stage draw against Germany. The 35-year-old Cho, who has 26 goals in 152 caps, plays her club soccer for Birmingham City in England and is one of six players on this roster competing for a club outside of South Korea. Forward Choe Yuri also plays for Birmingham City while midfielder Lee Geummin also competes in England for Brighton & Hove Albion and defender Lee Youngju plays for Madrid CFF in Spain.
Midfielder Ji Soyun leads South Korea’s roster with 158 caps and 71 goals and currently plies her trade in the NWSL for Seattle Reign FC after spending eight seasons in England, playing under Emma Hayes for Chelsea FC as the first South Korean to play in the Women’s Super League. Sixteen-year-old Casey Phair, who was born in South Korea but grew up in New Jersey, is on the roster for Angel City FC but has yet to make her NWSL debut. Phair was on South Korea’s 2023 World Cup Team and was the youngest player to ever feature in a FIFA Women's World Cup, making her debut at the age of 16 years and 26 days old against Colombia.
KOREA REPUBLIC WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-CHOI Yeseul (Gyeongju KHNP WF), 18-KIM Jungmi (Incheon Hyundai Steel WFC), 21-KIM Kyeonghee (Suwon FC Women)
DEFENDERS (8): 2-LEE Eunyoung (Changnyeong WFC), 3-HONG Hyeji (Incheon Hyundai Steel WFC), 4-WON Jueun (Ulsan Hyundai High School), 5-GO Yuna (Hwacheon KSPO), 16-KWON Daeun (Ulsan Hyundai High School), 17-LEE Youngju (Madrid CFF, ESP), 20-KIM Hyeri (Incheon Hyundai Steel WFC), 22-CHOO Hyojoo (Incheon Hyundai Steel WFC)
MIDFIELDERS (8): 6-HONG Seoyoon (Gwangyang Girl's High School), 7-LEE Jungeun (Hwacheon KSPO), 8-CHO Sohyun (Birmingham City, ENG), 9-LEE Geummin (Brighton & Hove Albion FC, ENG), 10-JI Soyun (Seattle Reign FC, USA), 14-JEON Eunha (Suwon FC Women), 19-LEE Sohee (Incheon Hyundai Steel WFC), 23-KANG Chaerim (Suwon FC Women)
FORWARDS (4): 11-CHOE Yuri (Birmingham City, ENG), 12-MOON Mira (Suwon FC Women), 13-Casey PHAIR (Angel City FC, USA), 15-CHUN Garam (Hwacheon KSPO)
SERIES HISTORY: USA vs. KOREA REPUBLIC
Saturday’s match in Denver will be the 16th meeting all-time between the USA and Korea Republic and the first since the teams met in a pair of matches in October 2021. The USWNT is unbeaten in the all-time series with South Korea, boasting a record for 11W-0L-4D in the previous meetings between the teams, all of which have come in friendly competitions and been played in the United States.
Following a 1-1 draw in Chicago on October 6, 2019, in what was the final match for former USWNT head coach Jill Ellis, the teams played to a 0-0 draw on October 21, 2021, in Kansas City and then travelled to St. Paul, Minnesota, where the USA won 6-0 on October 26 in the farewell match for legend Carli Lloyd. Lindsey Horan, Alex Morgan, Rose Lavelle, Lynn Williams and Megan Rapinoe all scored for the U.S. in that game and the Americans also benefitted from an own goal.
Korea Republic will be the fourth different opponent from Asia that the USA has faced over the last 12 months, facing Vietnam in the opening match of the 2023 World Cup, playing China PR twice in December of 2023 and most recently beating Japan 2-1 in the semifinal of the 2024 SheBelieves Cup in Atlanta. The U.S. is unbeaten in its last 26 matches against AFC foes (20W-0L-6D), the last defeat coming in a 1-0 loss to Australia during the 2017 Tournament of Nations.
HISTORIC DOUBLEHEADER
While Saturday marks the start of the Emma Hayes era for U.S. Soccer, even more history will be made on Saturday as the U.S. Women’s Deaf National Team hosts Australia, in a match presented by Volkswagen, in the first game of a historic doubleheader with the USWNT at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. This will be the Deaf WNT’s first-ever full international match on U.S. soil and the teams’ first camp since winning the 2023 World Deaf Football Championship in Malaysia last October.
Adding to this historic event, the three-time World Deaf Football champions’ match against Australia will be broadcast live at 2 p.m. ET / noon MT on truTV and Max, marking the first time one of the Federation's nine Extended National Teams will play on television in a U.S. Soccer-controlled match, while Volkswagen's title sponsorship is the first time an ENT match has had a presenting partner. Both the English and Spanish language broadcasts will feature American Sign Language interpreters communicating on-screen throughout the match.
Just as the USWNT has set the standard of success for international women’s soccer, the U.S. Deaf WNT has been a dominant force in the deaf game, winning three DIFA World Deaf Football Championships and four Deaflympics, while compiling a remarkable 37-0-1 international record since beginning play in 2005. The team is coached by Griffin (née Allmann), who earned 24 caps for the USWNT, while two-time Women’s World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist Joy Fawcett, who played 241 times for the USWNT, serves as an assistant coach.