The USWNT announced their 2025 season finale on Monday, setting a pair of friendlies against Italy at Orlando's Inter & Co Stadium on November 28th and Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale on December 1st.
Facing the now-world No. 2 US for the first time in 15 years, Italy's recent run to the 2025 Euro semifinals shot them to No. 12 in the FIFA rankings.
"As we prepare for World Cup qualifying at the end of 2026, we want to play teams from all parts of the world with different styles and different strengths, so getting to play Italy, one of Europe's up-and-coming teams, will be a great way to end the year," said USWNT head coach Emma Hayes in a statement announcing the friendlies.
After an extended break following a series of early July matchups, the US now has five matches left on the books, with the year-ending Italy matches rounding out three already-announced October friendlies.
The USWNT kicks off next month's lineup with two matches against Euro 2025 participant No. 23 Portugal, followed by a third friendly against No. 33 New Zealand.
As Hayes's year of roster evaluation comes to a close, expect stakes to rise as the 2027 World Cup comes into sharper view.
How to purchase tickets to the final 2025 USWNT friendlies
Though a myriad of presale opportunities are available throughout this week, tickets to both the November 28th match in Orlando and the December 1st friendly in Fort Lauderdale will go on sale to the general public on Friday.
Tickets will drop at 10 AM ET online.
The USWNT laid out its fall plans on Monday, announcing a series of three October friendlies — including nods to recently retired stars Alyssa Naeher and Alex Morgan — in the world No. 1 team's first return to the pitch since early July.
The US will face 2025 Euro participant No. 22 Portugal in the first two matches, opening the series at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania, on October 23rd before meeting again at Hartford, Connecticut's Rentschler Field in a split doubleheader with the US Men's Deaf National Team on the 26th.
The slate's third game will take place at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City on October 29th, against a still-unannounced opponent.
"Portugal is a growing team that will be highly motivated for these matches, but as always, these three games are more opportunities to work on us," USWNT head coach Emma Hayes said in Monday's release.
"I'm very impressed with the progress we've made since the Olympics and I want to give a lot of credit to the players for embracing our culture and ideas, but our staff and the players know we still have much work to do before World Cup qualifying next year."
In addition to building chemistry as the USWNT pushes toward 2026's World Cup Qualifiers, the first two October friendlies will also see the team celebrating past legends Morgan and Naeher.
The Pennsylvania friendly will honor retired USWNT forward Alex Morgan inside the stadium where she scored her first-ever senior team goal.
Hartford's match pays tribute to Connecticut product and decorated goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who hung up her international boots last December.
How to get tickets to the October USWNT friendlies
While various presale opportunities will drop throughout this week, general public tickets for all three matches will go on sale at 10 AM local venue time on Friday.
World No. 10 France opened their 2025 Euro campaign with a bang on Saturday, beating defending champs No. 5 England 2-1 to better their chances of escaping a tough group stage draw.
Currently sitting atop Group D — the notorious "Group of Death" that includes France and England — are the No. 11 Netherlands, who opened their European Championship tournament run with a 3-0 win over Euro debutants No. 30 Wales.
Notably, star forward Vivianne Miedema made history in the victory, becoming the first-ever Dutch player to score 100 international goals with her record-setting first-half strike on Saturday.
Also hitting the ground running in their first group-stage match were 2023 World Cup champions and world No. 2 Spain, who routed No. 22 Portugal 5-0 on Thursday — La Roja's biggest Euro victory to date.
Gotham FC star Esther González notched a brace in that opener before tallying another goal in Spain's 6-2 win over No. 20 Belgium on Monday — tying the NWSL scoring leader with teammate Alexia Putellas atop the early 2025 Euro Golden Boot race.
Reigning atop Group B, Spain is now guaranteed a spot in the tournament knockouts, joining Group A's No. 16 Norway — the first team to advance from group play.
Norway handed No. 26 Finland a 2-1 defeat in their second match on Sunday, mere hours before host nation No. 23 Switzerland's 2-0 win both eliminated No. 14 Iceland and punched the Norwegians' quarterfinals ticket.
How to watch the 2025 Euro group stage action
The second-match cycle of the 2025 Euro group stage continues on Tuesday before wrapping up on Wednesday.
England's 12 PM ET Wednesday game vs. the Netherlands is already stealing the midweek spotlight, as the Lionesses will need a result against the Dutch to realistically keep their back-to-back title hopes alive.
Live coverage of 2025 Euro matches airs across Fox Sports platforms.
The 2025 European Championship is officially underway, as Euro action kicked off with a group-stage upset on Wednesday.
Though the 2025 UEFA tournament's opener was a sweltering affair amid a European heat wave, world No. 26 Finland prevailed, earning a 1-0 upset win over No. 14 Iceland in Group A.
Finnish winger Katariina Kosola played hero, curling in the winning goal in the match's 70th minute — just 12 minutes after Iceland midfielder Hildur Antonsdóttir picked up the competition's first red card.
"The result is important for our confidence," Kosola said after Finland's first major tournament win since the 2009 Euro. "It was the kind of goal I have been practicing a lot."
"It's terrible to lose and we feel frustrated," said Iceland head coach Thorsteinn Halldórsson. "It is an even group and we knew Finland were good, but our first half wasn't good enough."
Elsewhere, No. 16 Norway closed out Wednesday's slate on top of Group A, taking three points by defeating host No. 23 Switzerland in day's second match.
Led by captain and 2018 Ballon d'Or winner Ada Hegerberg — who pulled the match even with a second-half strike — Norway battled to a 2-1 comeback win, despite the Swiss side outshooting and out-possessing the Norwegians.
How to watch this week's 2025 Euro action
Group B steals the 2025 Euro spotlight on Thursday.
While No. 13 Italy snagged a 1-0 opening win over No. 20 Belgium to kick off the day, 2023 World Cup champions and tournament favorite No. 2 Spain will face No. 22 Portugal at 3 PM ET.
Friday's Group C slate will pit No. 12 Denmark against No. 6 Sweden at 12 PM ET, before No. 3 Germany contends with No. 27 Poland at 3 PM ET.
Closing out the first group-stage matches will be arguably the toughest draw of the 2025 Euro pool.
Saturday's Group D slate features major tournament debutants No. 30 Wales against the No. 11 Netherlands at 12 PM ET, with No. 10 France taking on defending champions No. 5 England to cap the day at 3 PM ET.
Live coverage of 2025 Euro matches will air across Fox Sports platforms.
U.S. women’s national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski offered his harshest evaluation yet of his squad’s performance at the 2023 World Cup.
The two-time defending champions played World Cup newcomer Portugal to a scoreless draw Tuesday, finishing the group stage with just one win for the first time ever. The result also sealed the USWNT’s status as Group E runner-up, setting up a Round of 16 battle with world No. 3 Sweden at 5 a.m. ET Sunday.
“The performance was crap,” Andonovski told FOX Sports on Thursday. “We all know that. We have to own it. We have to take accountability. And we have to focus for the next game. Let’s make sure that we don’t have the same performance again.”
With the blunt assessment, the head coach struck a different tone then in the immediate aftermath of the match, when he acknowledged the USWNT’s flawed execution but focused more on Portugal’s skill. He also expressed confidence in his players and their ability to right the ship, a confidence that has not been unshaken in the days leading up to the elimination match against Sweden.
“I think it’s been great actually,” he told FOX Sports. “I was a little bit worried after the Portugal game [about] how they’re going to feel and where they stand, but the group has been incredible.
“Some of the more experienced players actually from the get go were very energetic and very positive about the fact that we have [another] game.”
Co-captain Lindsey Horan and forward Lynn Williams reiterated that message during media availability on Thursday, saying the USWNT is “not panicking” despite their group stage results. The players instead are focused on rediscovering their “joy” ahead of the Sweden matchup.
"Yes, the performance was crap. We all know that, we have to own it, we have to take accountability."
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) August 3, 2023
Hear from USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski on the team's gameplay in its final Group E match against Portugal and @HeatherOReilly's comments afterwards 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/6ryxOk5cJO
Portugal nearly did the unthinkable Tuesday, coming just inches from knocking the U.S. women’s national team out of the 2023 World Cup in the group stage.
Just one thing stood between the World Cup debutante and the Round of 16: A goalpost.
Portugal striker Ana Capeta took a shot in second-half stoppage time that ricocheted off the post. The close call preserved the scoreless draw that sent the USWNT (and not Portugal) to the knockout stage.
“It was by mere centimeters that we didn’t make another dream come true,” Capeta told Portuguese media after the draw. “We had already achieved the biggest dream of all football players by being the first Portuguese team to play at the World Cup. I think we were competent and deserved more, not only for what we did today but also for what we produced in all three matches.
“Every time I take to the field and take a shot I’m dreaming. I dreamed that we could make history and eliminate the United States in the group stage for the first time. I think anyone who watched this match at home and didn’t know the United States were world champions, they still wouldn’t have known it afterwards. We were far superior.”
She also said that what her team might lack in technique and tactics, “we make up for in spirit and desire. They will never beat us in that.”
All in all, she called it a “positive” first World Cup for Portugal, capped off by what Portugal coach Francisco Neto called the team’s “best game” of the tournament.
“I will be honest with you, when Ana hit the ball I was thinking it would be a goal and about what Vlatko would do and what I would have to do to stop him,” he said. “I swear, I truly believed it was going to be a goal. I told the girls I was very proud. Of course, they are very sad because we have huge expectation on ourselves.
“They felt that we were probably going to be the first team in the world that would eliminate the US in this stage. It was a huge opportunity for us but unfortunately we go home tomorrow.”
After rolling out the same starting lineup for the first two group-stage matches, U.S. women’s national team coach Vlatko Andonovski made several changes Tuesday against Portugal: Rose Lavelle started at midfield, and Lynn Williams started at striker.
Former players and coaches had been calling on Andonovski to give Williams, in particular, more of an opportunity. The 30-year-old World Cup debutante did not play in either of the USWNT’s first two matches, even as a substitute. While Williams didn’t score in Tuesday’s 0-0 draw, she did record six of the team’s 17 shots, including a promising header in the 14th minute that was saved by Portugal goalkeeper Inês Pereira.
Lynn Williams making an immediate impact for the USA 🇺🇸
— Bookmakers Review (@BMRReviews) August 1, 2023
Knocking on the door…pic.twitter.com/HeMAKSFrtP
Carli Lloyd, the former USWNT captain turned Fox Sports analyst, had called for Andonovski to use Williams as a reserve in the second half of the 1-1 draw against Netherlands as the team’s offense stagnated.
“I would’ve liked to see Lynn Williams come in — I think she’s been having a really great NWSL run this season,” Lloyd said. “And sometimes making subs puts the other players on their toes a little bit — you’re coming off, the next person’s coming in and they’ve got to perform.”
Former USWNT midfielder Tobin Heath echoed that sentiment on her podcast, “The RE-CAP Show,” after the Netherlands match.
“Vlatko raved about Lynn Williams being the best 15-minute player he could put on this roster, and in that moment we needed a 15-minute player to come in,” Heath said.
Andonovski had said Williams likely would have been the first substitute used against the Netherlands, if he had opted to change things up. Instead, he used just one substitute, swapping Savannah DeMelo for Lavelle at halftime.
On Tuesday, he avoided at least that vein of criticism by starting Williams in place of 21-year-old Trinity Rodman — but it remains to be seen if the lineup will take that same shape in the Round of 16 after the team’s underwhelming performance against Portugal.
Following the U.S. women’s national team’s disappointing draw with Portugal, the first person to address the team was not head coach Vlatko Andonovski. Instead, it was Kelley O’Hara, who gave a spirited speech in the postgame huddle.
The USWNT will advance out of Group E, albeit in a limping fashion. While the Netherlands blew out Vietnam 7-0, the U.S. looked lackluster in its 0-0 draw with Portugal. The second-place finish for the USWNT likely means a Round of 16 meeting with Sweden, another World Cup title favorite.
When asked about what she told the team, O’Hara stressed the importance of looking forward to the Round of 16 rather than back at the disappointing group stage.
“I told the team: Listen, we did what we had to do. We’re moving on. Group stage is done. This is over, it’s in the rear view,” she told Fox Sports after the match. “We have our next game in front of us, and that’s the only one that matters. Maybe we didn’t do it the way we wanted to or planned on doing it, but we’re dancing, and this is the World Cup and that’s all that matters. We’ve got to be looking forward and only focused on that.”
The 34-year-old defender echoed that sentiment in the mixed media zone, noting that the team will need to take what it can from the group stage and learn from it moving forward.
“We did what we had to do. We advanced out of our group,” she said. “And that’s the World Cup, and that’s the name of the game. … It’s not gonna be pretty. It’s not gonna be perfect. It’s not gonna go exactly how you planned, but that’s what makes [the World Cup] so exciting and so unique.”
Even still, finishing as Group E runner-up is a tough pill to swallow. The USWNT last finished as group runner-up in 2011, when the team lost to Sweden in the group stage. And it makes road to a World Cup three-peat that much tougher.
“It’s tough to be second. We wanted to go through first,” veteran striker Alex Morgan said. “This team gave everything, we just didn’t put the ball in the back of the net and in the last few minutes we just had to hold it down, we had to get the result and move on. Now we look forward.”
“It’s not gonna be pretty. It’s not gonna be perfect. It’s not gonna go exactly how you planned, but that’s what makes [the World Cup] so exciting and so unique.” - Kelley O'Hara pic.twitter.com/KJYHqdKLeV
— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) August 1, 2023
Lindsey Horan and Alex Morgan are two of the most prolific U.S. women’s national team goal scorers of the past decade. But in the team’s 0-0 draw against Portugal, neither player found the back of the net.
The lackluster offensive performance was the continuation of an unsettling trend for the USWNT, which finished runner-up in Group E to advance to the Round of 16. The team attempted 17 shots against Portugal, including six on goal, but could not finish.
"We always want to be better, we always want to improve."
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) August 1, 2023
Our own @JennyTaft spoke with U.S. co-captain Lindsey Horan after the @USWNT's match against Portugal 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/JOc0BRtOcn
“We had our opportunities in front of the goal, even like two yards out,” Horan said. “We have to finish them.”
Added Morgan: “We could’ve made other decisions or been a little bit more patient on certain crosses.”
Horan has scored twice in the World Cup, once in the team’s 3-0 victory over Vietnam and again in the 1-1 draw against the Netherlands. Morgan, who scored six goals in the 2019 World Cup, has yet to score, and missed a penalty against Vietnam — the first U.S. penalty to be saved at a World Cup since 2003, when Mia Hamm was denied against Norway.
The USWNT finished with 28 shots (seven on goal) against Vietnam and 18 (four on goal) against the Netherlands. After the Portugal game, Horan was asked if the USWNT’s team effort would be good enough against Sweden, its likely opponent in the next round.
“We always want to be better, we always want to improve,” said Horan, who recorded six goals and five assists in 22 matches for the USWNT in 2021. “This result was good enough to put us through to the next round, but it’s not good enough for us, and we know that. We have to move forward, and we learn our lessons from the few things we can take away from this game.”
In the wake of the U.S. women’s national team’s 0-0 draw against Portugal, former captain Carli Lloyd, now an analyst for FOX Sports, said the team’s play was “uninspiring,” among other harsh words. Coach Vlatko Andonovski took exception to the criticism.
“To question the mentality of this team, to question the willingness to win, to compete, I think it’s insane,” Andonovski said.
The USWNT advanced to the Round of 16 with the draw, but just barely: Portugal substitute Ana Capeta nearly scored in second-half stoppage time, but her shot pinged off the right post; a loss would’ve knocked Andonovski’s team out of the tournament. After the draw, USWNT players were seen dancing and smiling.
"There's a difference between being respectful of the fans and saying hello to your family, but to be dancing and smiling..."@CarliLloyd on the USWNT after the match 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/38zm1eC76r
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) August 1, 2023
“I have never witnessed something like that,” Lloyd said of the players’ celebration. “The player of the match was that post. You are lucky to not be going home right now.”
Andonovski took over the USWNT in October 2019 after his predecessor, Jill Ellis, led the program to consecutive World Cup championships. Ellis had endured criticism for some of her tactical decisions, among other things, and the hope was Andonovski could be a steadying presence as the team continued to chase greatness.
Then the USWNT finished third at the 2021 Summer Olympics, leading some to question Andonovski’s leadership. On Tuesday, after narrowly avoiding disaster, Andonovski defended his team.
“This team wanted to win this game more than anything else,” he said. “I’ve never seen this team step on the field and not try hard, or not compete. Everyone is entitled to (their) opinion, they can say whatever they want, but I just know how this team feels.”
Andonovski added: “It’s not like we played well by any means. We owned it. We know it’s not good enough. We’re not happy with our performance. But we qualified for the next round, we’re moving on.”