The USWNT will play in New Zealand in January, six months before playing in the World Cup there

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. women’s soccer team will begin 2023 with a trip to the two cities where it will play group-stage games at next summer’s World Cup.

It’s been a poorly-kept secret for a few weeks now that the Americans were planning to go to New Zealand in January, their first trip to the nation on the east side of the Tasman Sea from Australia. But when the World Cup group stage draw set the U.S. up with tournament games in New Zealand, it became an even better idea.

And it won’t just be for a couple of games during the NWSL’s offseason, which allows players to be available at a time when there isn’t a FIFA window. The entirety of the annual January training camp will take place Down Under, with six days of practices before the first game against the Football Ferns.

The U.S. and New Zealand have played 19 times before, with the Americans holding a 17-1-1 record. Their lone loss was in the first meeting in 1987, at an exhibition tournament in Taiwan.

New Zealand’s current squad has some familiar faces. Centerback and captain Ali Riley is a NWSL veteran who grew up in Los Angeles and currently plays for her hometown’s Angel City FC; and manager Jitka Klimkova used to be the U.S. under-20 women’s team’s head coach.

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“Everything about this trip is a positive for our team ahead of the World Cup,” said Andonovski. “We will get some quality training time together and have two tough matches against a great opponent that is hosting the World Cup. We also get to experience the long travel and familiarize ourselves with the host cities, the stadiums, the training grounds and the culture, and hopefully we’ll play in front of some big crowds supporting the home team. It will be a great way to start the year.”

The first friendly will kick off at Sky Stadium in Wellington / Te Whanganui-a-Tara at 10 p.m. ET on Jan. 17, which is 4 p.m. on the 18th local time. The second game will be at venerable Eden Park in Auckland / Tāmaki Makaurau at 10 p.m. ET on Jan. 20, 4 p.m. Jan. 21 local time.

In the course of those games and the World Cup, you will see U.S. Soccer, FIFA and the host nations use both the English and Aboriginal names for host cities. That branding was championed by FIFA’s head of women’s soccer Sarai Bareman, who was born and raised in New Zealand.

At the World Cup, the U.S. will play its group stage opener and finale at Eden Park, New Zealand’s 50,000-seat national stadium that is the home of the nation’s superpower men’s rugby team. The middle game, a rematch of the 2019 World Cup title game against the Netherlands, will take place at 34,500-seat Sky Stadium.

“Everything about this trip is a positive for our team ahead of the World Cup,” U.S. manager Vlatko Andonovski said in a statement. “We will get some quality training time together and have two tough matches against a great opponent that is hosting the World Cup. We also get to experience the long travel and familiarize ourselves with the host cities, the stadiums, the training grounds and the culture, and hopefully we’ll play in front of some big crowds supporting the home team.”

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The U.S. men’s team also announced its January plans on Wednesday, including its first games after the World Cup. A squad that will likely be all domestic players will play Serbia on Jan. 25 (10 p.m. ET) at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles, then Colombia on Jan. 28 (7:30 p.m. ET) at Dignity Health Sports Park in nearby Carson.

It won’t be surprising if the Union’s Jack McGlynn gets invited to that gathering, as the rising star midfielder could play a big role on the 2024 U.S. men’s Olympic team. So could Paxten Aaronson, Quinn Sullivan and Brandan Craig, though they haven’t played much for the Union lately.

All four of them are here in L.A. this week for the Union’s MLS Cup final clash with Los Angeles FC on Saturday (4 p.m., Fox 29, Univision 65 and TUDN). That game will be at Banc of California Stadium, LAFC’s home, and the Union have been training at the Galaxy’s Dignity Health Sports Park this week.

The U.S. men’s team is currently holding a training camp in Frisco, Texas for MLS-based players whose seasons are over and might go to the World Cup. The 26-player tournament roster will be announced next Tuesday in New York, and the U.S.’ tournament opener in Qatar is Nov. 21 against Wales.

The four January national team games will be the first broadcasts in the U.S. Soccer Federation’s new eight-year rights deal with Warner Brothers Discovery Sports, the newly-renamed company that owns HBO, TNT, TBS, Discovery and other channels. It’s not known yet what TV channel the games will be on, but they will all be livestreamed by HBO Max

Spanish-language coverage also hasn’t been confirmed yet. U.S. Soccer is still in discussions for a Spanish rights deal for the new cycle.

Current English rightsholders Fox and ESPN will carry their last games as U.S. Soccer’s broadcast partners later this month when the U.S. women host Germany on Nov. 10 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (7 p.m., FS1) and Nov. 13 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. (5 p.m., ESPN). Fox will continue to have some U.S. national team games through separate contracts with FIFA for World Cups and Concacaf for the men’s Gold Cup.

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