The U.S. men’s national team will face off with a familiar foe in one of their final tune-ups before the start of the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The U.S. Soccer Federation announced on Monday that the USMNT will host Ghana in a friendly on Saturday, July 1 at Pratt & Whitney Stadium in East Hartford, Conn. Set for one week before the U.S. begin their Gold Cup against Panama on July 8 in Nashville, the match will be broadcast live on ESPN, UniMás and UDN and will kick off at 1:45 p.m. PT.
The U.S. and Ghana have played in each of the last three World Cups, with the Black Stars knocking the U.S. out of the competition in 2006 and 2010 before the U.S. defeated the African country 2-1 in the opening group game of the 2014 tournament (in which Seattle Sounders forward Clint Dempsey scored 29 seconds into the match, the fifth-fasted goal in World Cup history).
Columbus Crew SC's Jonathan Mensah and Harrison Afful were both part of Ghana's Africa Cup of Nations squad this season, and the Chicago Fire's David Accam has also been a recent call-up for the Black Stars.
“Ghana is certainly a team that brings different challenges, and it’s the type of competition we need as we continue to develop our program,” U.S. head coach Bruce Arena said in a statement released by U.S. Soccer. “Winning the Gold Cup is one of our priorities in 2017, so this is an important opportunity. We’ve always had great support in Hartford, and look forward to more of the same this summer.”
The U.S. are 3-1-1 all-time in East Hartford, last playing there in October 2014, when the USMNT defeated Ecuador 2-1 in Landon Donovan’s send-off game.
