USWNT returns to play on Nov. 27 at Netherlands

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Nov 15, 2020

The USA will play its first women's international match since the SheBelieves Cup in March when it faces the Netherlands on Nov. 27 at Rat Verlegh Stadium in Breda.

The USA recently completed an 11-day training camp at the end of October in Colorado, but the U.S. squad was restricted to NWSL and college players. It has six 2019 world champions who have been playing for clubs in Europe, five in England and one in Sweden.

The game against the Netherlands will be a rematch of the 2019 Women's World Cup final and the first for the USA since March 11 when it defeated Japan, 3-1, to win the SheBelieves Cup. The next day sports activity shut down in response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic.

The USA will train for six days in the Netherlands before the match. It is 10-0-0 since Vlatko Andonovski took over in October 2019, tying Pia Sundhage's record for best start for a head coach in U.S. history.

“First, everyone is just really excited to have an international match,” said Andonovski. “That it’s against the Netherlands makes it even better and more challenging. We had to get back on the field for a real game at some point, so it might as well be against one of the best teams in the world. We have a lot of work to do before the Olympics and facing a really talented Dutch team will give us a good look at where we are at the end of this very unusual year.”

The Dutch have played three games -- all shutout wins in qualifying for the next European Championship, which has been moved to 2022 -- since women's international action resumed in Europe.