USMNT to face Brazil in Copa America tune-up

The United States men’s national team will take on five-time World Cup winners Brazil in a friendly on June 12 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced Tuesday.

The match marks the second friendly that will act as preparation for this summer’s Copa America, which is being held in the United States. The USMNT is set to play Colombia in Landover, Maryland, on June 8.

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“Getting the opportunity to play against Brazil is special,” USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter said as part of the announcement. “When you talk about wanting to challenge ourselves against the best teams in the world, you can’t ask for much better than Brazil.

“With their extremely talented player pool and rich history of success on the world stage this will certainly be a great preparation game for Copa America. The fan support in Orlando has always been outstanding, and when you play against the five-time World Cup champions at Camping World Stadium it should be even more electric.”

The match will see the USMNT face Brazil for the first time since 2018. In addition to its aforementioned success at the World Cup, Brazil has claimed the Copa America 10 times, the most recent of which was in 2019.

The USMNT is 1-18-0 against the Seleção all-time. The lone victory came during the 1998 Concacaf Gold Cup, a 1-0 win in a tournament that Brazil took part in as a guest team. In that match, goalkeeper Kasey Keller pulled off several spectacular saves, stopping 10 shots in total, while Predrag “Preki” Radosavljević scored the lone goal.

The USMNT has played numerous matches in Orlando in recent years, including the 5-1 victory over Panama in March 2022 that effectively sealed qualification to the 2022 World Cup.

The match against Brazil will mark the first time the U.S. has played at Camping World Stadium since January 1998, when a goal from Roy Wegerle saw the U.S. defeat Sweden 1-0.

The U.S. will begin its Copa America campaign against Bolívia on June 23 before rounding out the group stage with games against Panama and Uruguay.

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