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U.S. women to face Wales in Women's World Cup sendoff match

The United States women will play its final game before the start of the Women's World Cup against Wales in San Jose, California, on July 9.

The back-to-back World Cup champions face the Netherlands, Portugal and Vietnam in Group E play at the tournament co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. All three of the USWNT's games will be played in New Zealand.

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Tuesday marked the start of the 100-day countdown to the finals with the U.S. beating Ireland 2-0 in a friendly in St. Louis, Missouri, in a friendly before head coach Vlatko Andonovski names his 23-player squad for the tournament.

"It will signify a lot of hard work by coaches, players and staff over the past few years to get to that point, so we're really looking forward to having an exciting, productive camp and playing one last match," Andonovski said of the sendoff match.

The U.S. played a pair of away games against co-hosts New Zealand in January, winning both, before taking top spot in the SheBelieves Cup in February with wins over Japan, Brazil and Canada.

"To play the current world champions in their final match before the World Cup is a fantastic opportunity, Wales manager Gemma Grainger said. "To be asked to play them is a real compliment to our players, we'll be playing top ranked teams in the Nations League in September, so it's great we can prepare for that against one of the best teams in the world."

The availability of star striker Mallory Swanson for the tournament is in serious doubt after she suffered a torn patella tendon in a 2-0 win over Ireland on Saturday. She underwent successful surgery on Tuesday.

Information from Reuters was used in this story.