The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team will play its penultimate match before heading to France for the 2024 Summer Olympics on Saturday, taking on Concacaf foes Mexico on July 13 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., in the Impact 99 Legacy Match, presented by New York Life. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET with broadcast and streaming coverage available on TNT, truTV, Telemundo, Universo, Max and Peacock.
The USA suffered its lone defeat of 2024 to Mexico in the group stage of the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup in late February but bounced back to win the tournament and also hoisted a trophy the following window at the 2024 SheBelieves Cup. Now the USA has its sights set on a successful run in France, with new head coach Emma Hayes naming the final roster for the U.S. Women’s Olympic Soccer Team on June 26.
Get set for Saturday’s showdown in New Jersey with Five Things to Know about USA vs. Mexico.
COUNTDOWN TO FRANCE CONTINUES
In two weeks, the USWNT will take on Zambia on July 25 in Stade de Nice in the south of France to open Group B play at the 2024 Summer Olympics (9 p.m. CET / 3 p.m. ET). Saturday’s match against Mexico and the upcoming July 16 meeting with Costa Rica in Washington, D.C. for the 2024 Send-Off Match presented by Coca-Cola will provide a final 180 minutes of preparation before the USA officially launches its pursuit of a fifth Olympic gold medal.
The USA heads into Saturday’s match with an overall record of 7W-1L-2D on the year and with the momentum of two entertaining and energizing victories over Korea Republic in early June as Hayes officially kicked off her tenure with the USWNT. In the first match in Colorado, forward Mallory Swanson and defender Tierna Davidson scored two goals each while Crystal Dunn, who returns to the forward line, Sophia Smith and Lily Yohannes all scored in the second match in Minnesota.
With the final roster of 18 players and four alternates set, the USWNT looks to make the most of these remaining two matches in the build to Olympic action.
EAST COAST REMATCH
Saturday’s match in Harrison will be the second meeting between the USWNT and Mexico this year and the first since La Tri handed the U.S. a 2-0 defeat on February 26 in Carson, Calif. in the final group stage match of the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup. The victory was just Mexico’s second ever win against its North American neighbors and its first since 2010.
The USA entered that match leading Group A with two victories in its first two group stage wins and controlled the match in the early goings as it looked to win the group. However, Mexico took the lead just before halftime on a beautiful chipped goal from forward Lizbeth Ovalle in the 38th minute after a mistake in the back from the USA. Mexico continued to limit the USA to few quality chances in the second half and secured the win on a beautiful strike from distance by forward Mayra Pelayo in second half stoppage time.
With the win, Mexico secured the top spot in Group A and went on to defeat Paraguay 3-2 in the quarterfinal before falling to Brazil 3-0 in the W Gold Cup semifinals. The USA took second in the group and went through Colombia (3-0 win), Canada (2-2 draw, 3-1 on penalty kicks) and Brazil (1-0 win) to take the regional title.
INSIDE THE ROSTER: MEXICO
Mexico head coach Pedro Lopez has brought back many key players from the W Gold Cup roster for the upcoming match against the USA, including the two goal scorers Ovalle and Pelayo. The roster features 19 players who play their club soccer domestically in Liga MX Femenil, which has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, including five players from reigning Apertura and Clausura champions Tigres UANL and another five from Clausura runners-up Club America.
The remaining four players on this roster all play in the NWSL, headlined by midfielder Maria Sanchez who is the most experienced player on this Mexico roster with 66 caps and also its leading scorer with 14 international goals. Sanchez, who is from Idaho and played collegiately for both Idaho and Santa Clara, began her professional career with the Chicago Red Stars and currently plays for San Diego Wave FC alongside the USA’s Naomi Girma and Jaedyn Shaw. Forward Diana Ordonez plays for the Houston Dash with U.S. goalkeeper Jane Campbell and previously played on the U.S. Women’s Youth National Teams while forward Scarlett Camberos plays for expansion side Bay FC and defender Reyna Reyes is in her second season with Portland Thorns FC, playing alongside Olympic Team midfielder Sam Coffey and forward Sophia Smith.
MEXICO WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB)
GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Celeste Espino (Guadalajara), 12-Blanca Felix (Guadalajara), 21-Esthefanny Barreras (Pachuca)
DEFENDERS (10): 2-Jocelyn Orejel (Club America), 3-Karla Martinez (Guadalajara), 4-Rebeca Bernal (Rayados de Monterrey), 5-Karen Luna (Club America), 6-Nicki Hernandez (Club America), 14-Greta Espinoza (Tigres UANL), 15-Cristina Ferral (Tigres UANL), 18-Reyna Reyes (Portland Thorns FC, USA), 23-Kimberly Rodriguez (Club America)
MIDFIELDERS (4): 7-Maria Sanchez (San Diego Wave FC, USA), 8-Alexia Delgado (Tigres UANL), 16-Karla Nieto (Pachuca), 19-Nicole Perez (Rayados de Monterrey)
FORWARDS (7): 9-Kiana Palacios (Club America), 10-Diana Ordoñez (Houston Dash, USA),11-Lizbeth Ovalle (Tigres UANL), 13-Mayra Pelayo (Tijauna), 17-Myra Delgadillo (Rayados de Monterry), 20-Scarlett Camberos (Bay FC, USA), 22-Maricarmen Reyes (Tigres UNAL)
INSIDE THE SERIES: USA vs. MEXICO
The match at Red Bull Arena will be the 44th meeting all-time between the USA and Mexico, breaking a tie with Sweden and making Mexico the fourth most-common opponent in USWNT history. The U.S. leads the all-time series 40W-2L-1D and its 40 wins against La Tri are the second-most against any opponent in program history, trailing only Canada (53 wins).
Before the Gold Cup loss in February, the USA had won each of the last 16 matches against Mexico, the fifth-longest winning streak against a single opponent in team history, and had outscored Mexico 65-4 during that span, keeping a clean sheet in each of the last six meetings.
As the USA looks to start a new win streak in the series, Mexico aims to do what has only been done by one other nation and win consecutive matches against the USWNT on American soil. Norway is the only team to accomplish this feat, doing so in five straight visits to the USA from 1987-92 and again in two consecutive matches in 2000.
Prior to their meeting at the Gold Cup, the most recent meeting between the USA and Mexico came on July 11, 2022, during the final group stage game at the Concacaf W Championship in Monterrey. The USA prevailed 1-0 in a hard-fought match behind an 89th minute game winner from Kristie Mewis. The USA went on to win the Concacaf W Championship and qualify for both the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Olympics while Mexico failed to advance out of the group, failing to qualify for either tournament.
This will be the first time that the teams have met in friendly competition since July 2021, when the USA played Mexico twice in East Hartford, Conn. In its final matches before heading to the delayed Tokyo Olympics. The Americans won both games by 4-0 scorelines.
IMPACT 99
Prior to kick off on Saturday afternoon, U.S. Soccer will honor the players and staff of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Team in celebration of the 25th anniversary summer of their historic run to the championship of a tournament that changed the course of women’s soccer history in the USA and globally.
Impact legacy matches, presented by New York Life, will take place annually and will focus on important games in U.S. Soccer history that positively impacted future generations of National Team players. “Impact 99” features a U.S. Soccer-organized reunion of the 1999 World Cup team that defeated China PR on penalties on July 10, 1999, in front of a record-setting crowd at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. to capture the USWNT’s second star.
The USA opened the 1999 World Cup in New Jersey with a 3-0 win over Denmark at the old Giants Stadium, less than 10 miles from Saturday’s game at Red Bull Arena. A crowd of 78,972 fans was on hand that day as Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly and Julie Foudy all scored to kickstart that monumental summer for women’s sport.