USWNT vs. England: Top Storylines and Predictions for 2022 Friendly

The champions of Concacaf and UEFA will square off on Friday inside Wembley Stadium in one of the most anticipated women's soccer friendly matches in quite some time.

The United States women's national team is testing itself overseas with a matchup against England in what could be a preview of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup final.

Vlatko Andonovski's USWNT cruised through Concacaf qualification for the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Summer Olympics, and it has not lost in 15 matches this year.

England hoisted the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 trophy on home soil, and it ran rampant through UEFA World Cup qualification by earning the maximum amount of 30 points from 10 games.

Friday's showdown should serve as a good measuring stick for the two dominant national team programs, and if it lives up to expectations, it could strum up more hype for a potential final between the two sides next summer.

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USWNT vs. England Info

Date: Friday, October 7

Start Time: 3 p.m. ET

TV: Fox

Live Stream: FoxSports.com and Fox Sports app

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USWNT-England Clash Could Be World Cup Final Preview

The 2023 Women's World Cup draw will ultimately decide when the USWNT and Lionesses will face off, if they can, in Australia and New Zealand, but Friday's game feels like a potential final matchup.

The USWNT has been the dominant power in North America for a long time, and it rarely gets a chance to prove itself outside of the major international competitions against a team like England.

England is fourth in the FIFA women's world rankings, which is three spots behind the Americans in first. The USWNT's 2022 friendlies have come against Colombia, Nigeria and Uzbekistan. Colombia is the only one of those three teams ranked inside the top 25 and it is 25th.

England faced tougher competition throughout the calendar year because it played and won Euro 2022 and went through World Cup qualification. The Lionesses played three friendlies in 2022, and all of them were against European teams.

Both teams have been dominant in their own right in their respective competitions this season. The USWNT won the SheBelieves Cup with two wins and a draw and did not slip up in the Concacaf W Tournament, which qualified it for the Women's World Cup and Summer Olympics.

The USWNT conceded two goals in 2022, one in a 9-1 win over Uzbekistan and the other in its most-recent game, a 2-1 win over Nigeria.

The Americans have 10 victories by multiple goals, and they have been powered by a large group of goal scorers, led by Alex Morgan and Sophia Smith. Morgan and Smith combined for three of the four goals in the first of two friendlies against Nigeria in September.

England is coming off a 10-0 thumping of Luxembourg and a 2-0 victory against Austria at the end of UEFA World Cup qualification. Beth Mead, Ella Toone and Ellen White, who has since retired, combined to score 33 goals over the 10 qualifying matches. Mead was tied for the Group D scoring lead with 13 goals.

The Lionesses outscored their opponents 80-0 in World Cup qualifying, and they only gave up two goals during their title run at the Euros. Spain and Germany both scored on England and forced extra time. England won both of those knockout-round tilts by a 2-1 score.

This is as big of a superstar clash as you can get in women's soccer in 2022 and the result will teach us about the strengths and flaws of both squads with the World Cup on the horizon.

It has been hard for both the USWNT and England to pick out flaws when they are scoring an abundance of goals and holding clean sheets on a regular basis.

The USWNT will have to challenge the English defense without Alex Morgan. Smith is in the best form of the forwards on the roster. Megan Rapinoe is the only one of the five forwards listed on the roster with more than 25 international appearances.

Friday should provide the young forwards with an opportunity to showcase their skills against a top-rated defense, and it may allow Rapinoe to prove a case to be on the World Cup roster as one of the most experienced players in the talent pool.

Lindsey Horan and Rose Lavelle will be vital to the USWNT dictating the pace of the game, as they usually do, and Becky Sauerbrunn faces a tough task at center back with some of the best strikers in the world playing against her.

Beth Mead will be the player for the American defense to focus on. Mead has 13 goals in 2022, five of which came during the Euro title run.

If the American defense contains Mead's movement inside the final third, it will take away the avenues for Fran Kirby, Georgia Stanway and others to slide the ball into the box, and it may force England to attempt more shots from outside the box.

The match could be a low-scoring affair in which one moment of brilliance wins it, or a draw could come out of the contest, but no matter the result, both teams should get a good understanding of what has to be fixed before next summer.

Prediction: USWNT 1-1 England