French federation releases tentative SheBelieves Cup schedule

The second edition of the SheBelieves Cup is almost certainly going to take place on the East Coast after tentative details were released by the French Football Federation.

The competition, which will once again feature the United States, England, France and Germany, is due to take place between the 1st and 8th of March, with games taking place in Chester, Pennsylvania (March 1st), Harrison, New Jersey (March 4th), and Washington DC (March 8th).

The announcement came in a press release where the French were announcing two friendlies against South Africa in January in Saint-Denis and against Euro 2017 hosts the Netherlands in Utrecht, later in April. Also embedded in the release were France’s fixtures for the She Believes tournament, with the dates and venues included.

No communication has been distributed from either U.S Soccer, the English FA or German FA, and Jonathan Tannenwald of philly.com reported that stadium deals have not been finalized.

On the SheBelieves Cup, more bluntly:

Not all the stadium contracts are signed yet. When they are, the schedule will become official.

— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) December 22, 2016

Based on the French release, the schedule could look like this:

March 1: USA v Germany / France v England (Talon Energy Stadium; Chester, PA)
March 4: USA vs England / France v Germany (Red Bull Arena)
March 8: USA v France / Germany v England (Washington DC)

The only weekend date is March 4, a Saturday. That is outside of Major League Soccer’s traditional television window which will leave both of U.S. Soccer’s television partners free of other soccer commitments. The first SheBelieves Cup, in which the U.S. won all three matches to claim the trophy, did not have all of the matches on cable television. Alex Morgan was the top scorer in the tournament with two goals.

Of course, the ongoing CBA negotiations between the U.S women and U.S Soccer means that it is not 100 per cent certain that the fixtures will go ahead. The current agreement expires at the end of the year and the players have not ruled out a strike if they cannot come to a new agreement before then.