The USWNT faces Japan on Friday night in the final match of a three-game series, taking the field at 7 p.m. at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City with a split already on the board.
After beating Japan 2-1 in San Jose, the Americans lost 1-0 in Seattle on Tuesday and saw their 10-game winning streak end. The match will be carried on TNT, truTV and HBO Max in English, with Universo and Peacock offering Spanish coverage, while Westwood One has the radio call in English.
For Lindsey Heaps, the game brings a return home and a family scramble at the same time. The USWNT captain said she had to line up close to 50 tickets for relatives and friends, and she called the last two games an incredible experience. Heaps also said she felt the team had done well in the last outing, but still sensed there was more it could give.
Heaps and Sophia Wilson will play in front of the home crowd in Colorado for the first time in two years. Both were in the lineup at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in 2024, when the USWNT beat South Korea 4-0. Emma Hayes said she remembered being nervous before that earlier Colorado match, and she recalled the heat as she walked out and thought, “God, this is how I want soccer to feel in this country.”
Hayes said the team will have to be adaptable this time because the forecast calls for a strong chance of rain and snow. She said the staff has tried to plan for changing conditions, from altitude to temperature swings, and the weather may become as much a factor as Japan’s pressure on the ball.
The matchup carries extra weight for a USWNT group still living off the 2024 Summer Olympics, when it won gold in Paris with help from the Triple Espresso front line of Mallory Swanson, Wilson and Trinity Rodman. Swanson, who led the team at the Olympics with four goals and two assists, will not play Friday as she continues returning to fitness after maternity leave.
That leaves the Americans without one of their most dangerous attacking pieces for the series finale, but it also puts more attention on how the rest of the group handles a test that has already produced one win and one defeat. Heaps said she watched the U.S. beat Ireland 4-0 the last time the team was in town, a reminder of the crowd and setting the Americans hope to turn to their advantage again.