Ever ask yourself... hey what's this Tournament of Nations thing all about?
Yes? No?
Well... you're about to find out!
Roster
The roster features a host of veterans and younger players. Eleven players on the roster have 51 or more caps and 13 players have 36 or less.
The U.S. roster features all US-based players, with 24 playing in the NWSL along with Stanford junior Tierna Davidson; the squad;s youngest call up (she turns 20 in September). All nine NWSL teams are represented.
Formatting
The Tournament of Nations is structured just like SheBelieves; round-robin play which the team with the most points after all head-to-head match ups (the first tie-breaker being overall goal difference, followed by most total goals scored, then the head-to-head result and lastly, FIFA Ranking if necessary) are completed is crowned the champion.
The WNT will face Japan, Australia, and Brazil in a reprise of 2017's edition in Kansas City (7/26), Hartford (7/29) and Chicago (8/2), respectively.
Bring It? Oh.. It's Already Been Broughten!
Our WNT regained it's SheBelieves title in March outlasting England, France, and Germany. Now they'll look to make up for mixed bag at ToN 2017 which saw an opening loss to Australia, a dramatic win over Brazil, and cruised to victory over Japan; a second place finish overall.
So we took back one title and now we want the other won (see what we did there???!!!).
Practice Makes Perfect
The WNT will face Chile in a pair of California friendlies in late August and early September, but the Tournament of Nations will be the last super-duper serious set of matches before CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying in October.
Of the three teams the #1 WNT will face Australia is the highest ranked opposition at sixth in the world, Brazil comes in at eighth, and Japan at 12th.
Each has already qualified for the 2019 Women's World Cup in France.. which is kind of a big deal.
Sounds dope. I'm in!
We're biased, but the best way to watch the WNT is with the American Outlaws. Stand, sing, and support with us by buying tickets in the AO section AND joining us for cool events like our Night Before Parties and Tailgates.
Want More?
Read up on USSoccer.com's primer as well!