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SALT LAKE CITY — The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup is underway, and on the fifth day of play the United States will make their tournament debut against Thailand.
This will be only the second time that team USA has faced Thailand. The last time these two teams met was just after the 2016 Olympics, and the US walked away with a 9-0 win.
In their World Cup history, team USA has never lost an opening game. The team has an overall opening game record of 5-0-2, with the team’s most recent World Cup opener win being a 3-1 victory against Australia in 2015.
Thailand is playing in their second World Cup. In 2015, the team finished third in their group, and their only three World Cup goals came that same year during their sole tournament win against the Ivory Coast.
It is expected that all three of the group stage matches that the U.S. are playing will be sellout matches in each of the stadiums they will be playing in. Future matches will feature the U.S. going up against both Chile and Sweden. The largest stadium the team will play in is Parc des Princes, which seats 47,929.
The team is composed of 23 professional players from across the U.S., and 12 of them appeared on the 2015 World Cup squad that won it all. One of the biggest names on the team is Carli Lloyd, who scored seven goals during the 2015 tournament. Lloyd has played in 18 matches with the team and is the oldest player on the team. She is also a co-captain along with Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan.
The youngest player on the team is Tierna Davidson, who played at Stanford for three years as well as one year with the Chicago Red Stars. As a defender, she has appeared 20 times for team USA and has scored one goal and three assists.
Megan Rapinoe is making her second World Cup appearance. With the national team, Rapinoe has made 152 appearances and has scored 44 goals. Alex Morgan is appearing in her third World Cup and has scored 101 goals with the team while totaling 40 assists in her 162 appearances.
Julie Ertz is another player making her second appearance with the national team. Ertz has recorded 18 goals in her 81 appearances representing the U.S.
Kelley O’Hara and Christen Press are two of the three players on team USA who play professionally for the Utah Royals. Press is representing the country for the second time, while O’Hara has played on the team twice before this year. Between the two players, they have a combined 232 appearances, 49 goals and 44 assists.
In the last two appearances made by team USA in an international friendly they beat New Zealand and Mexico by scores of 5-0 and 3-0, respectively. These matches helped prepared the team to travel to France for the World Cup.
The United States will start the hunt for their seventh trip to the final round of the tournament as well as a fourth World Cup victory on Tuesday, June 11 at 1 p.m. MDT. The game can be watched on www.foxsports.com.
