United States women to play two June friendlies in Brazil

The United States women’s national team will travel to play Brazil in June in a pair of 2027 World Cup venues to prepare for the tournament.

Brazil will host the USWNT on June 6 at Neo Química Arena in São Paulo and on June 9 at Arena Castelão in Fortaleza.

The trip is a rare major road trip for the USWNT but follows the plans of past World Cup preparations in which the Americans went to play in a host country to acclimatize and familiarize themselves ahead of the tournament.

“I’m so pleased we were able to schedule these games,” USWNT head coach Emma Hayes said in a statement. “We want to play the best teams in the most difficult environments at venues across the world as often as we can, and these two games check all those boxes.

“We need more games in which every fan in the stadium is cheering loudly against us and I’m looking forward seeing how our team performs and grows in these adverse conditions.”

The trip marks the sixth straight World Cup in which the USWNT will play against a host country in a World Cup venue ahead of the tournament proper.

The Americans previously traveled to face New Zealand ahead of the 2023 World Cup, France prior to the 2019 World Cup, and Canada before the 2015 World Cup.

They also traveled to Germany and China ahead of the 2011 and 2007 World Cups, respectively.

Brazil is a frequent opponent for the USWNT, which holds a 34W-5D-4L record in the series, but meetings in Brazil are rare.

The teams last played against each other there in a friendly tournament in 2014. Only six of the 43 meetings between the teams to date have taken place in Brazil.

Several of those games have occurred in major tournaments, most recently in the 2024 Olympic gold medal game, which the United States won, 1-0. It was the third time that the U.S. defeated Brazil in an Olympic final. The USWNT also came back to advance in the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal in a penalty shootout in one of the program’s most iconic matches.

The United States last played a game in Brazil during a disappointing 2016 Olympics campaign.

As part of the trip and in what U.S. Soccer calls “a unique occurrence,” the U-23 USWNT will also travel to Brazil in June to play against professional clubs based in São Paulo.

The USWNT still needs to qualify for the 2027 World Cup. The Americans will play a win-and-in quarterfinal against El Salvador on Nov. 27 in the Concacaf W Championship.

Concacaf announced this week that the single-elimination tournament, which doubles as World Cup and Olympic qualifying, will begin in Mansfield, Texas, before shifting to Houston for a final on Dec. 5.

The 2027 World Cup is due to kick off on June 24 next year.

The draw to determine groups is expected to take place in December.