The United States Women’s National Team is scheduled to host Switzerland in the sides first meeting. Photo/Wikimedia Commons
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he U.S. women’s national team will continue its preparation for 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying when it plays host to Switzerland in a first-ever meeting between the two.
An announcement via the federation’s official website confirmed the Aug. 20 friendly set to take place at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, home to the North American Soccer League’s Carolina RailHawks.
Ranked 19th in the world, next year’s World Cup hosted in Canada marks the first time the Swiss women’s team has qualified for the competition. With one match remaining despite already having secured passage, Switzerland has scored 48 goals and allowed just one while capturing the top spot in its UEFA qualification group. That puts coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s team second in both scoring and goal differential among European nations to only Germany.
The Swiss attack is led by 28-year-old midfielder Lara Dickenmann (85 caps, 31 goals) of Lyon and 23-year-old forward Ramona Bachmann (52 caps, 28 goals) of FC Rosengard. The two have combined for 18 goals in the nine qualifying matches for Switzerland.
For the top-ranked USWNT, the meeting will mark the third match for Jill Ellis since her appointment as head coach. The team took a 1-0 victory and a 2-2 result against fourth-ranked France in a pair of June stateside meetings, including a brace by Alex Morgan in its last contest.
The match will be the sixth that the USWNT has played at WakeMed, the most recent being a 2-0 victory over Japan in 2011.
Match time is set for 7:30 p.m. ET and will be streamed on USSoccer.com.
This story was originally published by our partners at Press Row Sports & Entertainment.
