Rival Watch – Women's Soccer Express

USWNT: Brazil roster for the friendlies with the USA

For its first encounter with the United States Women’s National Team since last year’s gold medal match in the 2024 Summer Olympics, Brazil will have nine starters from that clash available, compared to just six for the USA. Overall, 12 of Brazil’s 22 players from last year’s Olympics have been named by head coach Arthur Elias to their roster for the upcoming friendlies against the USWNT.

Among the nine gold medal match starters are all three front line players: Gotham FC’s Gabi Portilho, who had the game-winner in the quarterfinals against France (NBC highlights) and also scored against Spain in their semifinal (NBC highlights). Ludmila, now of the Chicago Stars, was a dangerous presence in the gold medal match, where she could have had a goal in the second minute and later had a goal cancelled by the offside flag (NBC highlights). The 23-year-old Jheniffer, who joined Tigres of the Liga MX Femenil in January (Instagram), scored against Japan during the group stage, via an assist from Ludmila (NBC highlights).

Also on the present roster is Adriana, who won the double with Orlando Pride last season, but now plays in Saudi Arabia. During second-half stoppage time of the gold medal match, Adriana had a diving header saved by USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher (NBC highlights). However, Adriana was not denied in Brazil’s semifinal, where she headed home what would be the game-winner against Spain (NBC highlights).

February 2025 International Window: Roster Round-Up

Here are quick summaries of the rosters for the following women’s national teams:

For the rosters of the United States Women’s National Team (#1), Australia (#15), Colombia (#21), and Japan (#8), which are all participating in the SheBelieves Cup, see “2025 SheBelieves Cup: Roster Round-Up, Match Schedule, and TV/Streaming Details”.

2025 SheBelieves Cup: Japan roster announced — Washington Spirit’s Narumi Miura returns, Utah Royals forward Mina Tanaka also called up

Updates:

17-Feb-2025: Defender Rion Ishikawa has been withdrawn. (JFA news item)
18-Feb-2025: Angel City’s Miyabi Moriya has been called up to replace Ishikawa. (JFA news item)
19-Feb-2024: Kiko Seike has been withdrawn and replaced with Manaka Matsukubo of the North Carolina Courage. (JFA news item)

(Note: Except for the roster list and table, the names of Japan’s players will be in the Western format, with given names before family names.)

For his first matches in charge of the Japan Women’s National Team, head coach Nils Nielsen has opted for an experienced and mostly foreign-based squad that features just four players from the WE League. Of the 23 players named to Japan’s squad for the 2025 SheBelieves Cup, 19 were members of Nadeshiko Japan’s roster for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Three players, including Washington Spirit midfielder Narumi Miura, have been recalled after extended absences. Miura, who was a member of Japan’s squads for the COVID-delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, returns for her first camp since September 2023. The other two players are defender Saori Takarada, who also returns for the first time since September 2023, and Yuka Momiki, whose last call up was the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Both Takarada and Momiki had stints in the NWSL, with the Washington Spirit and OL Reign, respectively.

The only other current NWSL player named to the original roster was forward Mina Tonaka of the Utah Royals. Not making the original cut this time were two North Carolina Courage midfielders, who were both members of Japan’s squad for the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup: Manaka Matsukubo and the freshly signed Shinomi Koyama.

Late on February 18th, the Japan Football Association announced that Matsukubo has been called up to replace Kiko Seike.

Both Courage players were called up for Japan’s last camp in October 2024 (jfa.jp), but remain uncapped at the senior level. Nielsen, who has only been in charge since December, has stated that for the next international window, he is planning to bring in more inexperienced players (Japanese news article), so Koyama could be called up then.

Meanwhile, the most questionable player omission from the original roster was recent Angel City signee Miyabi Moriya, especially given that the announced roster has just one player, Hikaru Kitagawa, who is primarily an outside-back. Moriya started at right outside-back in Japan’s last three matches during the 2024 Olympics after Manchester City’s Risi Shimizu suffered an ACL injury in their opening match (Man City news item). On February 18th, Moriya was called up to replace center-back Rion Ishikawa.

In addition to Shimizu, the only other player from the 2024 Summer Olympics not called up is goalkeeper Shu Ohba, who played NCAA soccer for Ole Miss (profile). In her place, the uncapped Akane Okuma, who was Japan’s starting goalkeeper at the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, returns for her second straight camp, after first being called up for Japan’s last friendly, which was in October 2024. (No camp was held during the November/December international window.)

Woso TV/Streaming: November 29 to December 4, 2024 — The USWNT takes on England and the Netherlands, NCAA Quarterfinals

Update (02-Dec-2024): Added matches from the CBS Sports Golazo Network schedule for the week of December 2nd.

In addition to the United States Women’s National Teams matches on Saturday and Tuesday, viewers in the USA will be able to watch several other women’s national teams during this international window, including Mexico, Germany, Australia, Brazil, and France.

At the collegiate level, the national quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Championship will be played on Friday and Saturday, with some juicy match-ups, including the historically dominant North Carolina taking on Penn State, who won the College Cup in 2015, and a pair of three-time College Cup winners facing off with Stanford versus Notre Dame.

The USWNT’s matches will be televised on TNT and Universo and can be streamed via Max and Peacock. No other matches are scheduled to be televised.

Although most other matches are only available via a paid streaming service, some can be watched for free: Both of Mexico’s matches will be shown on ViX’s gratis tier, while Australia’s matches can be streamed and replayed through their federation’s YouTube channel. The free streaming CBS Sports Golazo Network channel has at least two scheduled matches, including a tape-delayed airing of France vs. Nigeria, on Saturday, December 1st.

In UEFA, 14 teams are competing in home-and-away playoffs for the final seven Women’s Euro 2025 slots, with most matches being played on Friday and Tuesday. Only one of those matches is known to be watchable in the USA: Belgium vs. Ukraine, on Tuesday, December 3rd, via Paramount+. Live scores for these matches can be tracked via UEFA’s website.

DroneGate: Canada Soccer releases findings, Bev Priestman is officially out as WNT head coach, plus new reporting from Radio-Canada

On Tuesday, November 12th, Canada Soccer released a redacted “summary” version of the report of an independent investigation into the drone spying incidents at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

The summary report’s findings are fairly limited, which is positive news for the Canada Women’s National Team. In addition to the 2024 Summer Olympics incidents, the investigation also determined that “surreptitious surveillance” also occurred at two “tournaments” between June 2022 and March 2024 (¶21 to ¶27), but not at the COVID-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics (¶28). However, nowhere in the published report does it directly address the allegation of spying at the Tokyo Olympics that was reported by TSN’s Rick Westhead back in July.

The summary report also stated that the players of the Canada WNT did not watch the footage obtained at the 2024 Summer Olympics, but that is based only on the statement of one person (¶20). Notably, the summary report does not mention whether players of the Canada WNT had seen earlier drone footage, nor does it discuss if any players were aware of the drone spying.

With the release of the summary report, Canada Soccer also confirmed that Bev Priestman is no longer the head coach of the Canada WNT:

The three individuals currently suspended by FIFA will not be returning. The search for a new head coach for the Women’s National Team will commence shortly.

Additional confidential HR measures are being evaluated and will be taken in response to the findings of the investigation.

The “three individuals” are head coach Bev Priestman, performance analyst Joseph Lombardi (the operator of the drone at the Paris Olympics), and assistant coach Jasmine Mander (who was Lombardi’s direct report).

On Monday, the day before the summary report was released, Radio-Canada, the French-language division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, published an article based on interviews with about 20 persons, including at least one Canada WNT player: “Details emerge of Canada Soccer’s ‘obsessed’ culture of drone spying”.

Note: All “¶” citations refer to numbered paragraphs in the summary report.

October 2024 International Window Guide — Schedule of Notable Matches, plus USA Streaming and TV Details

While the United States Women’s National Team celebrates its gold medal performance at the 2024 Summer Olympics this international window with three friendlies, tops teams in Europe are regrouping and preparing for Women’s Euro 2025. Among them, Olympic bronze medalists Germany, under new head coach Christian Wück, takes on England in a re-match of the 2022 final. Meanwhile, reigning Women’s World Cup champions Spain, who finished fourth at the Olympics, hosts a headless Canada that will be managed “collectively” by an interim staff which includes retired player Diana Matheson.

In the USA, both matches, which will be played on Friday, October 25th, and will stream live. The England-Germany match is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. EDT on the free CBS Sports Golazo Network, while Spain-Canada will stream via the paid Paramount+ app at 4:00 p.m. EDT.

Read on for…

Schedule of matches
USA Streaming and TV details
Links to team rosters

USWNT: The USA Will Play the Netherlands in December

On Wednesday, U.S. Soccer and the KNVB announced that the United States Women’s National Team will face the Netherlands WNT on Tuesday, December 3rd, in The Hague, Netherlands. The match will take place at ADO Den Haag Stadium, which opened in 2007 and has a capacity of 15,000 (Wikipedia).

The Netherlands friendly is scheduled to kick off at 2:45 p.m. Eastern and will be televised on TNT and truTV with English-language commentary. The match will also be shown on Universo with Spanish-language commentary. Streaming options include Max (subscription required) and NBC.com (Spanish-language; requires linking one’s TV service provider account).

This will be the final match for the USWNT in 2024 and will be the second friendly of the year’s last international window. A few days earlier, on November 30th, the USWNT will take on the Lionesses of England at Wembley Stadium.

The Netherlands and England are two of the nine teams that have already qualified for the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, which will be hosted by Switzerland. Twenty-eight teams are still in the hunt for the remaining seven slots. (Wikipedia)

Trivia: The Hague, Netherlands, is the birthplace of current England head coach Sarina Wiegman, who managed ADO Den Haag’s women’s team for seven seasons. (Wikipedia)

U.S. Soccer Press Release: U.S. Women’s National Team Will Face The Netherlands in The Hague on Dec. 3 to Finish 2024 Schedule

KNVB Press Release: Oranje sluit jaar af met oefenwedstrijden tegen China en USA

Good Morning. The USWNT is Back At #1 in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings

The United States Women’s National Team once again has bragging rights to the top spot in the FIFA Women’s World Ranking, thanks in large part to its golden performance at this year’s Paris Olympics.

The USA’s climb would also not be possible without some of the other teams stumbling off of their previous perches:

France (-91.12) had the biggest points drop since the last update on June 14th, primarily due to its 2 losses on home soil at the Olympics as well as a loss during Euro 2025 qualifying against the Republic of Ireland.

Spain also had a large points drop (-78.80), as it also lost twice during the Olympics, against Brazil in the semifinals and Germany in the bronze medal match, and fell to the Czech Republic during a Euro 2025 qualifying match.

Here’s the permalink to the full rankings table.

2024 Olympics: Germany Claims Bronze, Defeating Spain 1-0

In the third-place match of the women’s soccer tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Spain, after its disastrous semifinals performance against Brazil, had a second chance to secure its first Olympic medal. However, for the third time in a row, Spain had a poor offensive showing. And, for the second time in a row, Cata Coll committed a costly goalkeeping error. And, thus, for the first time since 2008, Germany had an Olympic bronze medal, their fourth.

The two defining moments of the match both revolved around penalty kicks: In the 65th minute, Giulia Gwinn converted from the spot for Germany after Spain’s goalkeeper, Cata Coll, crashed into Gwinn at the top of the penalty area as both were going for a lofted long pass. And, in the final moments of the match, Gotham FC’s Ann-Katrin Berger, who save two kicks in Germany’s quarterfinal penalty shootout against Canada, was once again the heroine for Germany, as she saved Alexia Putellas’s penalty kick in the 9th minute of second-half stoppage time.

2024 Olympics: Updated TV and Streaming Details for the Bronze Medal Match between Germany and Spain

In the United States, the only way to watch Friday’s bronze medal match between Germany and Spain with English-language commentary will be through streaming.

For those without Peacock subscriptions, if you have a multichannel service provider (e.g. for cable, satellite, etc.), in most cases, you should be able to watch the match live using the NBC Sports app or NBCOlympics.com after linking your multichannel service account.

The match, which was originally planned to air on the USA network, is still scheduled to air live on Telemundo, with Spanish-language commentary.