U.S. national team announces friendlies with France, Ireland and Paraguay

Ben Valentine

U.S. national team announces friendlies with France, Ireland and Paraguay image

The U.S. men’s national team announced Monday a trio of friendlies against France, the Republic of Ireland and Paraguay.

The game against the South American country will take place during the March international break, while the two European friendlies are set for June.

Paraguay will travel to face the U.S. on March 27 at 7 p.m. ET. The match will take place Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, home of North Carolina FC of the second-division USL. The U.S. last faced Paraguay in the 2016 Copa America Centenario, with the Americans walking away 1-0 victors.

The U.S. will face off against Ireland on June 2 at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. The U.S. will match up against France a week later at Groupama Stadium in Lyon in a World Cup tuneup for Les Bleus.

France and Ireland will meet each other prior to their games against the U.S., facing off May 28 in Paris.

While France is headed for Russia this summer, neither Paraguay nor Ireland will be joining them, with the former finishing seventh in CONEMBOL qualifying and the latter losing out to Denmark in a UEFA playoff.

With the March and June friendlies falling during international windows, the U.S. will be able to call in a full complement of players.

Having missed out on the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the next competitive match for the U.S. will be the CONCACAF League of Nations, which is expected to begin play in September.

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The national team is currently led by interim coach Dave Sarachan, who guided the team to a 1-1 friendly result against Portugal in November and a 0-0 draw against Bosnia & Herzegovina last month.

New federation president Carlos Cordeiro is expected to hire a general manager of the men's national team in the near future. That GM is expected to handle the hiring of a full-time head coach, which may not happen until after this summer's World Cup.

Ben Valentine