France, Germany, England return for US tournament

Chicago (AFP) – France, Germany and England will face the United States in March in the second edition of the SheBelieves Cup women’s tournament, the US Soccer Federation confirmed on Wednesday.

The four-way event will be played at three venues in the northeast between March 1 and 7 as a round-robin tournament.

Women’s World Cup champions the USA will face Olympic champions Germany in the opening round of fixtures on March 1 at Philadelphia’s Talen Energy Stadium while England take on France at the same venue in a double header.

France will then face Germany while England take on the US women when the action moves to Harrison, New Jersey on March 4.

The tournament will conclude on March 7 with a final round of fixtures at RFK Stadium in Washington, with Germany facing England and the US taking on France.

“It’s fantastic to play these three teams in the first three games of the year,” US head coach Jill Ellis said in a statement.

“As I’ve said many times, one of our main goals is to play the best teams in the world as often as possible … these are the kinds of games where we get tested and can really learn a lot about ourselves.”

The US women won the inaugural tournament last year with wins over England and France before beating Germany 2-1 in the title decider.