United States women’s coach Vlatko Andonovski is hoping a sold-out Wembley Stadium will create an atmosphere to give his team a real test in next month’s friendly against England, with the World Cup less than a year away.
Two-time world champions Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn were joined by an array of young talent in the American squad named on Thursday, with the team due to face England on Oct. 7 and Spain in Pamplona on Oct. 11.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, more (U.S.)
England are on a high after winning this year’s European Championship and completed a flawless World Cup qualifying campaign this month.
“We wanted to go through adversity and figure out a way to overcome it. And what better way to do that than playing in front of a full stadium away, 90,000 people, against England and Spain later on,” Andonovski said at a news conference on Thursday.
It will be the first time the American women have played at Wembley since Rapinoe and Sauerbrunn helped the U.S. to their fourth Olympic gold medal in 2012.
“They know what it takes to win big games and play environments like this and be successful,” Andonovski said.
“But then we have the next generation… the younger ones that have to experience this, which I believe is going to be the closest that we can get to playing in the actual World Cup game.”
