The United States women's national team will host world No. 1 and reigning World Cup champions Spain in a pair of friendly matches in October, U.S. Soccer announced on Monday.
The world's top two teams will play at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 10 before meeting again on Oct. 13 at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania, in two pivotal tune-up games for the 2027 World Cup. The U.S. women are the reigning Olympic champions and four-time World Cup winners.
"Two more fantastic matches," USWNT head coach Emma Hayes said in a statement. "We've desperately wanted to get Spain on our schedule, but the difficulties of scheduling the top teams during the women's international calendar are well known, so to be able to get these two games on the East Coast will be the perfect tests before we head into World Cup qualifying at the end of the year."
Spain has only played the USWNT on U.S. soil once previously, at the 2020 SheBelieves Cup. The USWNT won that match, 1-0.
The two teams last played in October 2022, in Pamplona, Spain, when a second-choice La Roja side comfortably defeated the USWNT 2-0. They then went on to win the Women's World Cup for the first time nine months later.
That match was one of midfielder Sam Coffey's first for the United States.
She has since become an integral part of the team and was the United States' starting defensive midfielder at the 2024 Olympics.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Coffey called Spain an "exceptional team" and said the matches will present "an electric matchup," but she said her team's focus will be on themselves.
Coffey praised her U.S. team for its recent ability to adapt and win in different ways.
Coffey said that the matches against Spain will be another test, although she rejected the idea that they will be a "measuring stick" for the U.S. against Europe.
She said the USWNT's focus will be on them.
"We don't have to do anything special," Coffey said.
"Of course, they are an incredible team, but so are we. I think when we're [at] our best, we can play and beat anyone, so I think just us leaning into what our strengths are and not thinking that we need to do more -- of course we'll have a game plan, we'll have our tactics going into the match. But I think just us being our best and leaning into what makes us great and what separates us from the rest of the world is what we need to do."
It is an increasingly difficult task for the United States to schedule top European opponents due to Europe's long qualifying process. Spain is available for the matches in October by way of winning its qualifying group and avoiding Europe's World Cup qualifying playoffs. Spain prevailed atop a difficult group ahead of fellow world heavyweight England, the 2023 World Cup runners-up.
The USWNT is expected to utilize U.S. Soccer's new national training center for the first time ahead of the October matches, a federation spokesperson told ESPN. The national training center outside of Atlanta, Georgia, opened earlier this year.
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The matches will be the first in four months for both Spain and the United States.
Spain wrapped up World Cup qualifying in early June, including an emphatic 4-0 victory over England that helped clinch direct qualification.
The United States went to Brazil, which will host next year's World Cup, in June and split a pair of friendly matches with the hosts. Brazil won the first match 2-1 before dropping a 1-0 result in a scrappy game.
Coffey is expected to be available for the October matches. She had minor knee surgery in May, but she said on Monday that she should be ready for the start of Manchester City's season later this summer.
"I forgot how hard it is to run, so I'm sore, but I've never been so happy to be sore," Coffey said. "Everything's tracking super well. We are really just taking it one day at a time, seeing how my knee responds. So far it's been responding really great to everything.
"It does look like I'll be ready for the start of the year. I feel really positive about everything, though, my progress -- and more importantly how my knee has felt and responded to the load that it's been given. Trying not to get too far ahead of myself. Again, just taking it one day at a time, but it is looking really positive for the start of the year."
