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USWNT vs. France: 2021 Friendly Odds, Time, Live Stream and TV Schedule
April 13, 2021
After drawing with Sweden 1-1 on Saturday, the United States women's national team will take on France on Tuesday in the second of two friendlies in Europe this month.
The U.S. had earned 16 straight wins prior to the draw in Stockholm, which even seemed a fortunate result for Vlatko Andonovski's team after Megan Rapinoe's penalty kick in the 87th minute allowed the team to avoid a loss.
This is the first meeting between the USWNT and France since the quarterfinals of the 2019 Women's World Cup. In that contest, Rapinoe scored twice to lift the U.S. past the host nation before winning the trophy.
USWNT vs. France Viewing Info
When: Tuesday, April 13, at 3 p.m. ET
Where: Stade Oceane in Le Havre, France
TV: ESPN2
Live stream: WatchESPN
Odds (via DraftKings): USA (-120); Draw (+255); France (+260)
U.S. Preparing for Short-Handed France
Given that France is ranked No. 3 in the world, the pregame odds may seem awfully generous in the USWNT's favor. However, there's a simple reason for that.
Because of a recent COVID-19 outbreak within French club Olympique Lyonnais, Les Bleues will be without several key players. The list includes star defender Wendie Renard and midfielder Amandine Henry, two fixtures of the lineup.
Other absences of note are Amel Majri, Griedge Mbock Bathy and Sakina Karchaoui, who each have at least 39 international appearances. Delphine Cascarino (11 caps) is also unavailable.
France still has plenty of talent, though.
Most notably, the attacking group can be a handful for the USWNT back line. Expect to see a combination of Eugenie Le Sommer, Kadidiatou Diani, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Valerie Gauvin and Viviane Asseyi for the hosts in Tuesday's friendly.
Asseyi and Katoto both scored in France's win over England on Friday, highlighting a 3-1 victory in which Sandy Baltimore also found the back of the net. Diani notched two assists, too.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is aiming to rebound from an unimpressive draw against Sweden—a result that Andonovski called "very good" for the team, per ESPN's Jeff Carlisle:
"I think that this is, I wouldn't say one of the best things that happened to us, but something that is very good for us. In fact, that's why we came here [to Europe]. We came here to play good teams. We came [to] Europe to play opponents, to some extent get exposed to different tactics, high-level tactics, organized teams and to try to overcome all that."
Regardless of the result, though, this is a challenging back-to-back sequence of games designed to prepare the USWNT for the Summer Olympics in Japan. On that stage, nothing but a win is good enough.
Considering the context of this friendly—France's absences—that should be the expectation for the U.S. on Tuesday, too.
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