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USA vs. China Women's Soccer: Date, Time, TV Info and Live Stream for Friendly
December 16, 2015
The U.S. women's national team's Victory Tour will continue with another friendly match against China on Wednesday in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The hosts beat China 2-0 on Sunday, and they'll be looking for a repeat performance to keep their impressive unbeaten streak going.
Fox Sports 1 will provide full TV coverage for the match, with kick-off scheduled at 7 p.m. CT.
Legendary forward Abby Wambach will be playing her final match for the squad, and per Ramon Antonio Vargas of the New Orleans Advocate, she is set to wear the captain's armband:
Here's everything you need to know about Wednesday's match:
Date: Sunday, Dec. 16
Time: 5 p.m. PT/7 p.m. CT/8 p.m. ET
Venue: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
TV Info/Live Stream: Fox Sports 1, Fox Soccer 2Go
Preview
Wambach will retire as one of the greatest players in women's soccer history, winning two Olympic gold medals and two World Cups with the Stars and Stripes and pushing the popularity of the sport to new heights.
While the 35-year-old didn't play a huge role during the team's run to the world title in 2015, she did score the winning goal against Nigeria and was one of the squad's most vocal supporters—often captured jumping up and down on the sidelines by the cameras.
The legacy she leaves behind is enormous, and team-mate Christie Rampone wrote a heartfelt farewell for the Player's Tribune:
Let me back up for a second and zoom out. Sometimes when an athlete retires, it’s easy to say nice things about them. It’s easy to inflate their legacy. With Abby, there’s no wiggle room: Abby is the best player I've ever played with. She’s the toughest competitor I've ever played against. But more than that, Abby defined U.S. Soccer. She was U.S. Soccer for over a decade.
The USWNT have been nearly untouchable during their Victory Tour, winning all of their matches, apart from a scoreless draw against Brazil in October.
Their performance in the 2-0 win over China left a lot to be desired, however, and going into Wambach's final match, coach Jill Ellis will be hoping for some improvements.
A strong showing isn't just needed to make sure Wambach's send-off is a success. The ongoing Victory Tour has received some criticism as well, and the world champions need to ensure the final memories of their lengthy cruise around the nation are positive.
The Guardian's Beau Dure has been a particularly vocal critic:
On Wednesday night, Abby Wambach will bid farewell in New Orleans’ Superdome. And the world champions will at last wrap up a tour that started in August with a pair of games awkwardly crammed into a short break in the NWSL schedule. (In fact, one US game overlapped with a rescheduled league game.)
This situation is preventable, but it requires a rethink. It’s time to treat the USWNT as a national soccer team rather than a traveling circus.
Ellis has experimented more with her squad as the Victory Tour has progressed, a smart move with an eye on the upcoming Olympic qualifiers in February.
The likes of Christen Press and Crystal Dunn have made a big impression, and both are now squarely in the running to be in the squad for those matches.
Expect to see more regulars on Wednesday, however. It's the final match of the tour, and the final chance for some of the team's biggest stars to make an impression.
China did well to play the hosts close on Sunday, but expect a motivated USWNT to put more goals past their opponents in what should be an emotional match.