Rio Tinto to host U.S. women’s soccer friendly against Colombia in June

Rio Tinto Stadium by Cole Bagley Photo: Cole Bagley.

In conjunction with U.S. Soccer, Real Salt Lake is set to host the U.S. Women’s National Team at Rio Tinto Stadium on Tuesday, June 28 at 8:00 p.m. MT. The match will be the second in a pair of friendlies against Colombia, the final two matches before the United States begins qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2024 Olympics.

The match marks the return of the USWNT to Utah for the first time since June 7, 2018 when the USA defeated China PR 1-0 at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real Salt Lake was previously set to host the U.S. Women’s National Team for a friendly against Australia in April of 2020, but the match was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rio Tinto has previously hosted five International USA matches which included opponents such as Canada, China, Switzerland and Mexico twice in Salt Lake City. In these five matches the USA have outscored their opponents 16-0, not allowing a single goal at Rio Tinto.

This pair of friendlies will be the ninth and 10th matches all-time between the two sides, with the United States holding a 7-0-1 record over Colombia. The two recently played one another in January of 2021, resulting in back-to-back victories for the USA with an aggregate score of 10-0.

“Colombia has a good chance to make it to the World Cup and both teams will be in our final preparations for our qualifying tournaments, so I expect some highly competitive matches between players who are competing to represent their countries in some really important games,” said U.S. head coach Vlatko Andonovski. “When we get to Colorado, we’ll be coming off a stretch of more than two months that the players have been with their clubs and away from the National Team environment, so we’ll be looking to get maximum value out of our last days and games together before we go to Mexico for qualifying.”

The USA will first take on Colombia in Commerce City, Colorado at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday, June 25, before traveling to Utah for the second of the two friendlies. The match will be broadcast on ESPN and Univision Networks, with kickoff set for 8:00 p.m. MT.

Presales for the match will begin on Wednesday, April 27 with the public sale beginning on Monday, May 2. Dependent on remaining ticket availability, groups of 20 or more can order at ussoccer.com starting Tuesday, May 3.