USWNT vs. Iceland preview: USA ready to rock Nashville

It isn’t quite the type of victory tour they received in 2015, but the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) still gets a series of home friendlies to celebrate its gold medal triumph in Paris.

By the time the calendar flips to November, the USWNT will have played three home games: two against Iceland and one against Argentina. They have already gotten off to a good start, with a 3-1 win against Iceland in Austin.

In the USWNT’s victory against Iceland on Thursday night, Alyssa Thompson got the scoring started in the 39th minute with a blast from outside the six-yard box. But Iceland responded early in the second half through Selma Magnusdottir to tie the game up at one goal apiece. It wasn’t until late in the game when the US broke it open with goals from Jaedyn Shaw and Sophia Smith in the space of four minutes to seal the win.

Now, the team is preparing to face Iceland again, this time in Nashville on Sunday, October 27.

USWNT vs Iceland preview: Roster is a mix of veterans and rookies

Emma Hayes has called in 26 players for this quasi-victory tour. Like her previous rosters, it’s a mix of experience and youth. Five players have over 100 caps. An additional five players have zero caps.

The goalkeepers are Alyssa Naeher, Casey Murphy, and Mandy Haught. The defenders everybody knows include Emily Sonnett, Naomi Girma, and Emily Fox while Eva Gaetino and Alyssa Malonson are two of the uncapped players.

In the midfield, Lindsey Horan and Rose Lavelle are the anchors, with Ashley Sanchez and Sam Coffey the next most experienced players. And up front, Mallory Swanson leads the way with 101 caps and 38 goals to her name. The selection of forwards also includes Yazmeen Ryan with one cap and Emma Sears, who is uncapped.

Iceland’s status in world soccer

Iceland has never qualified for the Women’s World Cup or the Olympics. The nation has, however, qualified for four straight UEFA Women’s Championships and currently sits in second place in Group A4 in qualifying for the next edition of the tournament in 2025.

Coming into this pair of games against the US, Iceland had been on an impressive run of form. In the eight games leading up to their loss on Thursday, they had lost just one time and won five times.

The squad called in by manager Porsteinn Halldorsson is relatively light on experience. Only defender Glodis Viggosdottir has over 100 caps. Nobody else on the roster has more than 65 (that would be defender Ingibjorg Siguroardottir). Goalscoring also appears to be at a premium as only two players have scored double-digit goals at the international level: Viggosdottir with 11 and Sveindis Jonsdottir with 12.

TV details for USWNT-Iceland

Sunday’s USWNT game against Iceland is set for a 5:30 PM ET kickoff from Geodis Park in Nashville, Tennessee. This is the USWNT’s second appearance at Geodis Park, the first coming in February of last year.

Viewers can watch the game on TNT, TruTV, and Max in English-language as well as on Universo and Peacock in Spanish-language. You can watch the game in both English- and Spanish languages via Fubo.

Photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire