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This Given Sunday

ChulaVista

Member
The U.S. WNT has had an excellent week of training north of Toronto and by the time the match on June 2 kicks off, will have had five days of training (in both rain and hot, humid sun) and one day off.

The U.S. team had a bit of a tougher training on Thursday morning, which featured some full-field scrimmaging and as well as some small-sided games, but will now taper into the match, which will be broadcast on ESPNews at 4:30 p.m. ET with Adrian Healey and Julie Foudy calling the action with Cat Whitehill on the sideline.

The match is sold out -- and has been for quite a while -- as more than 22,000 fans will pack BMO Field for a game that is generating tremendous buzz in Toronto. The match will mark the 14th five-digit crowd that the USA has played in front of since the end of the Olympics and the largest crowd ever to watch the two teams in Canada.



All the U.S. players trained this morning, including defender Kelley O'Hara, who participated in the entire practice after bouncing back well from an ankle injury suffered last weekend in NWSL play. She is still listed as day-to-day for Sunday's match.

After four days of quality training with the team, U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo -- who was not named to the roster as she continues her comeback to international play from wrist surgery -- has left camp and headed to Washington, D.C., to take part in U.S. Soccer's Centennial festivities around the U.S. MNT match against Germany on June 2 at RFK Stadium.

Fourteen of the 20 players Canada named for this match and 15 of the 21 U.S. players on the U.S. roster play in the National Women’s Soccer League, meaning almost all of the players will be very familiar with each other as they will be playing against many current teammates and against numerous players whom they have faced so far in the first quarter of the NWSL season. Of course, the USA and Canadian players needed no formal introductions at the start of this club campaign, having played each other six times over 2011 and 2012.

This will of course be the USA's first match against Canada since the epic semifinal of the 2012 Olympics, a match which saw Canadian star and all-time leading scorer Christine Sinclair put in one of the greatest single-game performances in U.S. history. The USA out-shot Canada 24-7 in the match, but the physical back and forth affair saw Canada take the lead three times, only for the Americans to equalize three times on two goals from Megan Rapinoe and a clutch kick from the penalty spot by Abby Wambach. The USA went ahead for the first time in the final minute of stoppage time of overtime on Alex Morgan's looped in her now famous header off a cross from Heather O'Reilly.

The passion and intensity will surely be bumbling over in what should be a highly entertaining match for both sets of fans, and fans of women's soccer in general.

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