USA vs. Switzerland Women's Soccer: Date, Time, Live Stream, Algarve Cup Preview

The USA women's national soccer team started the 2015 Algarve Cup with a narrow but well-deserved 2-1 win over Norway, and they'll now face Group B leaders Switzerland on Friday in Vila Real de Santo Antonio, Portugal.

The Swiss beat Iceland 2-0 on Wednesday to take an early lead in Group B, with both goals coming from Lara Dickenmann. Meanwhile, the USWNT overcame an early deficit thanks to two goals from Carli Lloyd. Highlights of that match, courtesy of Fox Sports (h/t the team's official Twitter account):

On paper, the USA and Norway were strong favourites to qualify for the final, and following their match on Wednesday, the path to said match is wide open. But due to the unique format of the tournament—the two best group winners qualify—dropping a single result can be catastrophic.

Here's everything you need to know about the Stars and Stripes' second Group match:

Date: Friday, March 6

Time: 5 p.m. GMT/12 p.m. ET

Venue: Estadio Municipal, Vila Real de Santo Antonio

TV info and live stream: The match will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1 (for U.S. viewers), with mobile coverage available via the Fox Soccer 2Go app.

Preview

The current standings in Group B, via Women's Soccer United:

The USA dominated Norway on Wednesday but still needed a brace from Lloyd to come back after Norway's Ada Hegerberg had given her team the lead, a recurring problem for Jill Ellis' side.

As demonstrated by England in last month's friendly, teams are growing more and more comfortable playing a very low defensive line against the USA and eyeing the counter-attack. The concept isn't new—the Yanks have just never struggled breaking down defences like this before.

Matt Dunham/Associated Press

Against England, the squad's best—and seemingly—only strategy was to use the long ball and hope Alex Morgan beats her marker. On Wednesday, the team's creativity had scarcely improved. Via the USWNT's official website, Ellis told reporters she still believes her players can be effective using the system:

"

We saw it with England and we saw it again today. I think teams’ best opportunities are probably countering against us because we do like to attack, we like to get forward.

I thought today our players found good spaces to turn in the pockets. I thought today we had good sequences, finding a central ball or a wide ball. We got plenty of balls in the box and a bunch of corner kick opportunities.

Now, we need to focus on two things:  our service in the box needs to be better, at times we’re hitting that front post player and we have to eliminate that, and then we have to be more aggressive and be in better position to win the set pieces.

"

As shared by Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl, the team is still very much a work in progress with an eye on the upcoming 2015 Women's World Cup, and some struggles are to be expected:

Offensively, the USA still lack some of the fluidity and creativity needed to beat the top teams in women's football. At the other end of the pitch, things look solid, but lapses in concentration have been an issue.

England hardly mustered chances in their friendly against the Yanks last month, but the chances they did manage were huge. And Ada Hegerberg's goal for Norway was the result of a massive blunder, leaving the forward completely unmarked just seven yards from goal.

Those kind of mistakes will be punished by the likes of Sweden and Germany, but Switzerland and Iceland don't have the sheer quality to take advantage against a superior American side. Dickenmann's form means the USA should keep a close eye on her, but barring a minor miracle, Ellis' troops should easily win Friday's match.

Final prediction: USA 2-0 Switzerland

Follow @ReverschPass