USA vs Japan women’s soccer live stream, TV channel, lineups, and betting odds for USWNT in SheBelieves Cup
With the 2023 Women’s World Cup just months away, the US women’s No. 1 is feeling good after a dominating 2-0 win over Canada in the 2023 SheBelieves Cup opener.
The game against Canada was billed as an elite-level rivalry, but it was a two-way street as an injury-plagued US side still managed to completely dominate their overwhelmed northern neighbors.
Now the American women are hoping to have a few regulars back in their line-up as they take on No. 11 Japan for a shot at a fifth straight SheBelieves Cup title. Japan were defeated 1-0 by Brazil in the opening game, which was turned upside down after legendary Brazil forward Marta returned from a cruciate ligament rupture in the last 20 minutes.
Japan fired 13 shots at Brazil’s nine throughout the game, but only managed to get one of those 13 attempts on target. Now they must contend with a US defense that is considered among the best in the world, despite the recent introduction of new faces.
MORE: Updated results, games and more from the 2023 SheBelieves Cup
How to watch USA vs Japan
- Date: Sunday February 19th
- Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
- TV channels (English): TNT
- Stream (English): fuboTV, HBO Max
- TV channels (Spanish): universe
- Streaming (Spanish): fuboTV, peacock
This USWNT SheBelieves Cup match will be broadcast on TNT in English. Turner Sports, which has signed an eight-year deal with US Soccer for both men’s and women’s broadcasts, has decided to televise this game after the opener of the competition was only shown exclusively on HBO Max. That means the show can be streamed on fuboTV, with HBO Max also an option.
A Spanish language show is available on Universo, which can also be streamed on fuboTV. The match can be found in Spanish on NBC’s subscription-based streaming service, Peacock.
MORE: Reflect on USWNT’s 2-0 win over Canada in SheBelieves Cup opener
Lineups USWNT vs Japan Team News
Both Rose Lavalle And Naomi Girma missed the opener against Canada with minor injuries in training and while they are expected to recover for that game, coach Vlatko Andonovski declined to comment on their return. Instead, he claimed that if there was “a risk of injury” they would be held back.
Natural left-back Emil Fuchs played the first half against Canada on the opposite side and put in a good performance which means she could end up there again Crystal Dunn makes her slow recovery into full match fitness as a left-back.
Mallory Swanson And Trinity Rodman Both were exceptional against Canada and should return to attack, with Sophie Smith out of the competition due to injury.
Estimated starting line-up USA (4-3-3): Closer (GK) – Fox, Cook, Girma, Dunn – Lavelle, Sullivan, Horan – Rodman, Morgan, Swanson.
Japan have been struggling to score against top international clubs lately, having been eliminated by Brazil, Spain and England in three straight games. 23 year old Japanese Rico Ueki started at striker against Brazil but it is possible that veteran Mana Iwabuchi comes back, with the Tottenham striker’s 85 caps and 37 goals providing much-needed experience in attack. Japan misses veteran Mina Tanaka who has not yet played for club or country in 2023.
captain Saki Kumagai is rock solid, with 130 caps at the age of 32. The Bayern Munich, ex-Lyon defender has an experienced back line to work with but a young midfield ahead of her. Forward Aoba FujinoThe 19-year-old completed her fourth international match against Brazil.
Japan predicted starting lineup (5-4-1): Tanaka (GK) – Shimizu, Miyake, Kumagai, Minami, Sugita – Fujino, Hasegawa, Nagano, Miyazawa – Ueki.
USWNT vs Japan betting odds
The United States, as the No. 1 team in the FIFA World Ranking, are understandably the big favorites in this game. Still, Japan, ranked No. 11 in the world, has a slight reputation for scoring in this game, as we’ve seen the USA far stronger favorites against weaker sides.
Bookmakers are somewhat undecided as to whether Japan can find the back of the net and contribute to the goals overall. The US side are slight favorites when it comes to keeping a clean sheet while the over is a bit skewed but not as strong as it could be after Japan conceded just a single goal against a good Brazilian attacking side in their opener has.
| BetMGM | |
|---|---|
| US win | -300 |
| Pull | +380 |
| Japan wins | +675 |
| Both teams to score Y/N |
+100 / -140 |
| over under 2.5 goals |
-155 / +110 |