Coming off a 1-0 win against Mexico on Saturday at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., the U.S. Women’s National Team now faces Costa Rica on Tuesday, July 16 in Washington, D.C. in its final match before heading to France for the Summer Olympics. The 2024 Send-Off Match presented by Coca-Cola will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET at Audi Field with broadcast and streaming coverage available on TNT, truTV, Universo, Max and Peacock.
The U.S. heads into the match on an eight-game unbeaten streak and has outscored the opposition 18-5 during this run. The Americans will look to build upon that streak taking on a Costa Rica side that reached the quarterfinals of the Concacaf W Gold Cup earlier this year and competed in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Get set for the USA’s final match before heading to France with Five Things to Know about USA vs. Costa Rica.
INSIDE THE SERIES: USA vs. COSTA RICA
Tuesday’s match will be the 18th matchup all-time between the USA and Costa Rica, with the Americans winning all 17 previous meetings. The USA’s 17 consecutive wins against Costa Rica are its most against any single opponent without a loss in program history.
Ten of the previous 17 matchups between the teams have come in World Cup or Olympic Qualifying, including the most recent matchup between the sides in the semifinals of the 2022 Concacaf W Championship. The USA defeated Costa Rica 3-0 on July 14, 2022, in Monterrey, Mexico to advance to the final of the Concacaf W Championship, where the USA then defeated Canada in the final to secure its spot in Paris 2024. Emily Sonnett scored the first goal of her international career to open the scoring for the Americans and Mallory Swanson added to the lead just before halftime. Midfielder Ashley Sanchez rounded out the scoring with a goal deep into second-half stoppage time and the Americans recorded their fourth consecutive clean sheet of the tournament.
Prior to the meeting in Monterrey, the teams last met in February 2020 during Olympic Qualifying. The USA won that match in Houston 6-0 to finish first in its group. Christen Press and Samantha Mewis both scored twice for the Americans while Lindsey Horan and Jessica McDonald also found the back of the net.
This will be the first time the USA and Costa Rica have played in a friendly competition since November 2019, a 6-0 win for the USA in the second match under then head coach Vlatko Andonovski.
LAS TICAS AS OF LATE
By virtue of reaching the semifinals for the 2022 Concacaf W Championship, Costa Rica qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which marked the second ever World Cup for Las Ticas and the first since 2015. Drawn into Group C, Costa Rica played the entirety of its group stage in Australia and finished fourth in its group, which featured Zambia, Japan and eventual champions Spain. Forward Melissa Herrera scored Costa Rica’s lone goal of the tournament, that coming in a 3-1 defeat to Zambia in the third and final group stage match.
Immediately following the World Cup, Costa Rica turned its attention to qualification for the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup and, despite dropping its opening match to Haiti, won its remaining three qualification matches to finish atop Group C and qualify for the final tournament.
At the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup, Costa Rica was drawn into Group C and responded to a 1-0 loss to Paraguay in its first match against Paraguay with a 2-0 victory over El Salvador in the second group stage game. Following a 3-0 loss to Canada in the final group stage match, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico were deadlocked on all criteria to determine the eighth and final team in the knockout rounds of the Gold Cup. In a seldomly seen occurrence in international soccer, Costa Rica was selected over Puerto Rico in a drawing of lots to advance to the quarterfinal, where it put up a valiant effort against Canada before falling 1-0 in extra time on a goal in the 104th minute.
Costa Rica defeated Peru 5-1 and 2-1, respectively, in two matchups during the April international window before dropping a pair of 2-0 decisions to Argentina in late May and early June.
INSIDE THE ROSTER: COSTA RICA
Costa Rica head coach Beni Rubido has selected a 22-player roster for Tuesday’s friendly against the USA, headlined by midfielder and team captain Raquel “Rocky” Rodríguez.
The 30-year-old scored Costa Rica’s first ever World Cup goal back in 2015 and is the country’s all-time leading scorer. Born in Costa Rica, Rodriguez played collegiately at Penn State University where she won the MAC Herman Trophy in 2015 as the top player in college soccer. She was selected No. 2 overall by Sky Blue FC in the 2016 NWSL College Draft, following No. 1 draft pick Emily Sonnett, and played three seasons for Sky Blue FC, the final under now USWNT assistant coach Denise Reddy. Rodriguez currently plays for Angel City FC in the NWSL, joining the club in the offseason after spending the previous four seasons with the Portland Thorns.
Rodriguez is the only player on this Costa Rica roster who currently plays her club soccer in the USA. Sixteen players compete domestically in the Costa Rican Women’s Premier Division, including nine players from 2023 Clausura champions Alajuelense. Of the remaining five players, three compete in Mexico with one player each competing in Russia and Colombia.
COSTA RICA WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB)
GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Noelia Bermúdez (Alajuelense), 23-Daniela Solera (Atlas, MEX)
DEFENDERS (7): 2-Gabriela Guillén (Alajuelense), 3-María Paula Coto (Alajuelense), 4-Mariana Benavides (Millonarios, COL), 6-Jimena González (Sporting FC), 12-María Paula Elizondo (Saprissa FF), 15-María José Morales (Dimas Escazú), 20-Fabiola Villalobos (Alajuelense)
MIDFIELDERS (6): 5-Yaniela Arias (Dimas Escazú), 8-Priscila Rodríguez (Saprissa FF), 10-Gloriana Villalobos (Saprissa FF), 11-Raquel Rodríguez (Angel City FC, USA), 13-Emilie Valenciano (Alajuelense), 19-Alexandra Pinell (Alajuelense)
FORWARDS (7): 7-Melissa Herrera (Xolos Tijuana, MEX), 9-María Paula Salas (Atlas, MEX), 14-Priscila Chinchilla (Zenit de San Petersburgo, RUS), 16-Ángela Mesén (Alajuelense), 17-Alexa Herrera (Alajuelense), 21-Tanisha Fonseca (Sporting FC), 22-Sianyf Agüero (Alajuelense)
CAPITAL CONNECTIONS
While Tuesday’s match at Audi Field will be the first ever meeting between the USA and Costa Rica in the Washington, D.C. area, the match will be a homecoming of sorts for several players on the U.S. roster, many of whom have ties to the nation’s capital. Four players on the USA’s 22-player roster currently compete for the Washington Spirit, those being Casey Krueger, Trinity Rodman, Hal Hershfelt and recently-capped Croix Bethune. Another four U.S. players – Crystal Dunn, Mallory Swanson, Emily Sonnett and Rose Lavelle – previously played for the Spirit, with Dunn and Swanson being former No. 1 draft picks by the Spirit and Sonnett helping the club to its first NWSL Championship in 2021.
Defender Emily Fox hails from Ashburn, Virginia, located less than 40 miles west northwest of Washington, D.C., and will be making her second trip to her home area with the USWNT.
NEXT STOP: FRANCE
Costa Rica will be USWNT’s final opponent before taking on Zambia to open the 2024 Summer Olympics on July 25 at Stade de Nice (9 p.m. CET / 3 p.m. ET). Following the Group B opener in Nice, which will be played one day before the Olympic Opening Ceremony, the Americans will then travel to Marseille for their second match at Stade de Marseille and will face Germany on July 28 (9 p.m. local / 3 p.m. ET). The USA will finish group play against Australia on July 31 (7 p.m. local / 1 p.m. ET) also at Stade de Marseille. The top two teams from each group along with the two best third-place finishers will advance to the knockout rounds.
The USWNT will be making its eighth trip all-time to the Olympics, having competed in every edition of the tournament since the Women’s Olympic Soccer Tournament began in 1996. The USA captured the inaugural gold medal at the Atlanta 1996 Games and also won gold at Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
In addition to its four gold medals, the USA also captured silver in 2000 and bronze at the delay Tokyo 2020 games. Eight players from the 2020 Olympic roster are on head coach Emma Hayes’ final roster for the 2024 Games, headlined by three-time Olympians Dunn, Lindsey Horan and Alyssa Naeher.
