The U.S. women’s national team’s send-off game will take place amid a record heat wave in Washington D.C., which head coach Emma Hayes is trying to embrace.
Temperatures around kickoff at Audi Field on Tuesday are set to be in the upper 90s. The National Weather Service has issued an excessive-heat warning for the region through 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, 30 minutes after the match against Costa Rica begins.
Hayes said that the conditions in the nation’s capital would be similar to those her team would face at the Olympics in France, making Tuesday’s game an opportunity for her side to acclimatize to what it will face later this month.
“It’s perfect preparation for Marseille, it’s pretty hot down there,” Hayes said Monday in her pre-game press conference.
“So this is a great opportunity for us to experience what we’re going to face. For me, that’s added value.”
The match against the Ticas will take place just nine days before the USWNT kicks off its Olympics slate with a game against Zambia in Nice. Following that game, the USWNT’s final two group-stage matches against Germany and Australia will be in Marseille.
Conditions in France look like they will be rather sweltering, but not quite as severe as what the USWNT will deal with in D.C. on Tuesday night: The 10-day forecast for both Marseille and Nice shows highs mostly in the 80s.
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