SANDY (ABC 4 Sports) – Rio Tinto Stadium is proud to announce that the Sandy venue will host the U.S. Women’s National Team in its final home match before the 2012 London Olympic Games on Saturday, June 30, when the squad will face off against fellow CONCACAF rival Canada. Kickoff is set for 12:00 p.m. MT and the match will be broadcast live on NBC. Fans will also be able to follow the match on ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker and via Twitter @ussoccer_wnt.
Tickets starting at $22 go on sale to the public Friday, April 13, at 10:00 a.m. MT through ussoccer.com, by phone at 801-727-2700 (Monday-Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. MT) and at the Rio Tinto Stadium Box Office (open Monday-Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.).
Groups of 20 or more can obtain an order form at ussoccer.com or call 312-528-1290. Ultimate Fan Tickets (special VIP packages that include a premium ticket, a customized official U.S. National Team jersey with name and number, VIP access to the field before and after the game, and other unique benefits) are also available now exclusively through ussoccer.com.
As a sponsor of U.S. Soccer, Visa® is pleased to offer all Visa cardholders access to an advance ticket sale for this match before the sale to the general public. This advance sale starts Thursday, April 12, at 10:00 a.m. MT and runs until Friday, April 13, at 8:00 a.m. at ussoccer.com. Visa will be the only payment method accepted through the Visa presale and is the preferred card of U.S. Soccer. Terms and conditions apply.
The June 30th contest against Canada will mark the U.S. Women’s National Team’s second visit to Rio Tinto Stadium, and the squad will certainly find milder weather on this trip than it did back on March 31, 2010, when it faced Mexico on a field covered in snow. A late Abby Wambach goal allowed the United States to pull out a hard-fought 1-0 victory on that wintery night on the Wasatch Front. This will mark the third overall visit to Sandy by a U.S. National Team when also factoring in the U.S. MNT’s 2-1 win over El Salvador in a CONCACAF region World Cup Qualifier on Sept. 5, 2009.
The USA’s next full international match will be against China on May 27 at PPL Park in Chester, Pa.
The USA, which currently sits atop the FIFA Women’s World Rankings, recently returned from Japan, where the team drew 1-1 with the hosts on April 1 and defeated Brazil 3-0 two days later in the Kirin Challenge Cup.
Home to Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer, Rio Tinto Stadium opened in October of 2008 and is part of the new wave of soccer-specific stadiums for MLS teams. The venue seats 20,213 fans and a sell-out would narrowly eclipse the record crowd to watch the U.S. Women in Utah, set on June 14, 2003, when 19,584 turned out at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City to see the Americans trounce Ireland 5-0.
Canada (currently seventh in the FIFA rankings) finished second to the USA during the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament in January at Vancouver and will also be ramping up for the journey to London. The U.S. team will leave for the Olympics about a week after the match in Sandy, giving the U.S. fans a chance to give the team a rousing send-off as it looks to return to the top of the podium. The match with Canada will mark the 51st meeting between the two countries, the most of any opponent in U.S. history.
