USWNT: Fall Friendly Set with Aussies

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The U.S. Women's national team will dust off their cleats after close to a seven-week break to take on the Australian national team on October 20th in San Antonio, TX. The game will take place at the Alamodome and will be nationally broadcast on NBC at 1:30pm ET.

Australia was part of the U.S. Women's fan tribute tour last fall after the Americans secured their third consecutive gold medal at the London Olympics. The teams played two games together with the U.S. securing the victories in both. At the time the U.S. Women's current coach Tom Sermanni was at the helm of the Australian team and it was only a few months later that the Scottish native picked up the reigns for the Americans. 

For Sermanni it will be a chance to face a squad that he spent nine years coaching over two separate stints and has risen to 8th in the world. 

“It’s always a special occasion when you come up against a team you were formally involved with, especially if it was significant as was my tenure with Australia,” said Sermanni in an interview with U.S. Soccer. “It will be very interesting to be on the other side knowing the ability and the character of the Australian team. I know it will be a difficult game.”

With qualifying for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup approaching next spring the national team will probably have at least two or three more international friendlies scheduled for the fall. These will give Sermanni the opportunity to continue to evaluate his younger talent before the team makes the push to qualify for Canada.

Several national team members are playing overseas during the off season of the National Women's Soccer League and Sermanni may choose to only call players that are already stateside to training camp. One player that will not be available to Sermanni is midfielder Shannon Boxx who announced via her twitter site that she is expecting her first child. Boxx missed much of the season with the Chicago Redstars due to knee surgery this past summer. 

Veteran captain Christie Rampone also had recent arthroscopic surgery on her right knee although no timetable has been released on her return. 

Information for tickets to the October 20th match can be found at ussoccer.com

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