Following a dominant win over Uzbekistan on Saturday, the U.S. women’s national soccer team will return to the pitch for the second of the pair of friendly matches between the sides.

The game gets underway at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

As the USWNT looks to build on its 9-1 victory over Uzbekistan on Saturday, the evaluation of young players will continue for head coach Vlatko Andonovski as the USWNT closes in on Women’s World Cup qualifying in July.

The path to qualifying will begin when the 2022 Concacaf W Championship draw is held on April 19 at 7 p.m. ET. Eight competing nations – including the USA and Canada – will be divided into two groups with four teams apiece. The USWNT headlines Group A while Canada headlines Group B.

Both Sophia Smith and Mallory Pugh had outstanding games Saturday, with the former notching a hat trick and the latter posting one goal and three assists.

Heading into Tuesday’s game, the U.S. team is looking to continue its 66-game home unbeaten streak. While the team’s scoreless streak ended on Saturday, the home team will look to begin another.

Team chemistry doesn’t seem to be an issue, as Smith seemed to push back at recent comments made by Carli Lloyd in which she called out the team’s culture.

“I think it’s a lot of fun to play with [Catarina Macario and Pugh] and every forward we have here we have a really good relationship,” Smith said on the Fox broadcast when asked by Lloyd about her relationships with Macario and Pugh. “We have good chemistry off the field and I think it transfers on the field. It’s a lot of fun to play with people who want to go forward and score as much as I do.”

When asked about the culture on the broadcast, Smith’s said that the team sets its standards high.

“I don’t think it’s a surprise, but this team is so set on their standards and they’re always trying to raise the standards with every group that comes through,” she said. “It’s a matter of keeping those standards and pushing them as high as we can.”

Seven different U.S. women’s national team players got on the board Saturday in a 9-1 thrashing of Uzbekistan, the first of two friendly matches this week.

Sophia Smith scored a hat trick for the USWNT’s third, fourth and sixth goals of the game, earning her Woman of the Match honors. The forward is the first USWNT player to do so since Alex Morgan recorded a hat trick against Paraguay last September. Smith also tallied her first international goal against Paraguay in that friendly series.

The 21-year-old Smith is the youngest player to score a hat trick for the USWNT since Christie Welsh in 2000.

In total, the U.S. recorded 17 shots on goal and held a 73 percent possession advantage. Uzbekistan’s lone shot on goal — a deflection off Aziza Norboeva’s thigh off of a corner kick — resulted in a score to help them avoid a shutout.

The goal also ended the U.S.’s two-year home shutout streak at 1,632 minutes. The last time the USWNT allowed a goal at home was March 11, 2020.

“As much as I hate it, I love it,” head coach Vlatko Andonovski said of Uzbekistan’s goal. “Because if I have to get scored on … I’m glad it happened now and hopefully, this will give us an opportunity to fix it before we go into qualifiers.”

Jaelin Howell (64th minute) and Ashley Sanchez (90th) recorded their first career USWNT goals in the win. Also getting on the scoresheet were Andi Sullivan, Mallory Pugh, Catarina Macario and Ashley Hatch.

The USWNT closes out the friendly series against Uzbekistan on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.

Just four games remain for the U.S. women’s national soccer team before the qualifiers for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2024 Summer Olympics begin.

The team will take on Uzbekistan in its first matches since February’s SheBelieves Cup.

The first match gets underway at 5:30 p.m. ET Saturday in Columbus, Ohio. Those looking for the broadcast can find it on Fox, with coverage beginning at 5 p.m. ET.

Following tonight’s match, the two teams will close out their two-game series in Pennsylvania at Subaru Park at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday on ESPN2.

This match will be the USWNT’s first time playing Uzbekistan, making it the 55th country that the USWNT has faced during its nearly 37 years as a national team. The Uzbekistan team is coached by former Japanese international player Midori Honda, who was a member of Japan’s first Women’s World Cup team in 1991.

As the USWNT continues to draw closer to the qualifying window, head coach Vlatko Anodnovski continues to test out the team’s young players. Three players on the roster for these matches have had zero caps with the national team: Aubrey Kingsbury, Bella Bixby and Naomi Girma. Others, including Imani Dorsey (1) and Trinity Rodman (2), are building on their limited experience.

Just two players on this roster have more than 100 caps: Kelley O’Hara (150) and Lindsey Horan (108).

In speaking with the media earlier in the week, Andonovski said is confident in his roster heading into the two friendlies.

“The lineup is gonna look good,” he said. “The lineup is gonna look very good.”

Still, he’s been intentional in bringing in some veterans – like O’Hara and Horan – who can help prepare the younger generation for what comes next.

“It would very difficult to bring 25 players that have never been at international level or never been at a world championship, Olympic tournament,” he said. “So that’s why players like Kelley O’Hara, Rose Lavelle, Lindsey Horan, Alyssa Naeher are extremely important for everything that is going on on the field, but also off the field, preparing the players and helping them become true professionals.”

Fresh off of winning the SheBelieves Cup, the U.S. women’s national team will play Uzbekistan as its next opponent in two April friendlies. The first game is scheduled for April 9 in Columbus, Ohio while the second game is scheduled for April 12 in Chester, Pennsylvania.

It will be the first time the USWNT has ever played Uzbekistan. They will become the USWNT’s 55th all-time opponent.

Currently, Uzbekistan is ranked 45th in FIFA’s world rankings. The team has never qualified for a World Cup or Olympics. Uzbekistan became an independent country in 1991 following the fall of the Soviet Union.

According to sources from multiple news outlets, including The Athletic and ESPN, a top opponent from East Asia had been lined up to compete in the two friendlies for months. However, due to government-mandated quarantine restrictions upon the team’s return. With other CONCACAF squads in the early stages of World Cup qualifying and European teams also booked, Uzbekistan was reportedly the only option beyond not playing the friendlies at all.

After the April friendlies, the USWNT will have one more window in June before the World Cup/Olympics qualifying. An opponent has been set for that window and the games will reportedly be played domestically, according to ESPN.

The April 9 game will take place at 5:30 p.m. ET on Fox networks while the April 12 game will be at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.