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Watch USA Vs. Japan Women’s Soccer Live Stream: World Cup Final Rematch As USWNT Preps For Rio Olympics

By Jonathan Vankin
Published on: 15:43 PST, Jun 1, 2016

The United States National Women’s Soccer Team plays a rematch of the 2015 Women’s World Cup Final on Thursday, when the Red, White, and Blue take on Japan in an international friendly match that will stream live from Colorado — but the two teams squaring off on Thursday night will look quite different from the teams that faced off in Canada to conclude the World Cup last year.

The United States women’s team won that game, and with it the World Cup, by a 5-2 score behind a hat-trick of goals from veteran midfielder Carli Lloyd. But Lloyd will not play in the Thursday friendly match against Japan.

Lloyd suffered a sprained knee on April 23 playing in a game for her club team, the Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League.

Also out of action for United States Coach Jill Ellis will be midfielder Megan Rapinoe, who is nursing a torn right anterior cruciate ligament, as well as Sydney Leroux and Amy Rodriguez who will each miss the match due to pregnancy.

Japan and the USWNT have formed a heated international rivalry over the past several years. Japan defeated the United States 5-3 in the final of the 2011 Women’s World Cup, but the United States took revenge in the Olympic tournament the next year, winning the gold medal game over Japan 2-1, before the United States beat Japan again in the Women’s World Cup in 2015.

Watch highlights of the 2015 Women’s World Cup Final in the video below.

To watch a live stream of the United States National Women’s Soccer Team vs. Japan international friendly match, try the video below or see the streaming links at the bottom of this article. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Mountain Time — 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific — at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado, on Thursday, June 2.

The once-mighty Japan women’s soccer team has fallen on hard times since suffering the World Cup defeat at the hands — or feet — of the United States last year, failing even to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

But for the United States, Thursday’s international friendly against Japan — followed by a second friendly match against their rivals on Sunday in Cleveland, Ohio — will serve as initial warm ups for their Olympic campaign, which opens on August 3 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, when the USWNT faces New Zealand.

The two matches against Japan also present a unique opportunity for United States goalkeeper Hope Solo who, if she is able to keep the Japan goal scorers out of the back of the net in both matches, will become the first USWNT goalkeeper to record 100 clean sheets in international competition.

MORE WOMEN’S SOCCER COVERAGE FROM THE INQUISITR:

Will The United States National Women’s Soccer Team repeat their World Cup triumph over the now-faltering Japan team? Or will Japan achieve a measure of redemption by shocking their top international rivals? To find out, watch the USWNT vs. Japan international friendly match stream live from Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado, by going to Fox Sports Go at this link or paying for a subscription to Fox Soccer2Go available at this link. To watch the semifinal match on mobile devices, download the Fox Sports Go app.

For fans who want another way to watch the live stream without login credentials, or those who simply prefer to watch the UEFA Champions League Final game online via a TV set rather than on a computer or mobile device, PlayStation Vue carries Fox Sports One, which will broadcast the game. The PlayStation Vue main package subscription costs a fee of $39.99 per month, but a seven-day free trial is also available. To watch the USWNT vs. Japan international women’s soccer friendly match on PlayStation Vue TV, which is also available on several non-PlayStation devices such as the iPad and Amazon Fire, sign up at this link.

[Featured Photo Jeff Vinnick / Getty Images]

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