An indefinite suspension of the season stood between the Orlando Pride’s and eight other teams’ return to competitive play, but, with the coming of the National Women’s Soccer League inaugural 2020 Challenge Cup, a return to the pitch is less than a month away.
On June 1, the bracket for the Challenge Cup’s preliminary round was released, as the Pride drew the ninth seed. Orlando will play the Chicago Red Stars, Portland Thorns FC, the title-defending North Carolina Courage and Sky Blue FC in that order.
The Pride will open its first slate of 2020 matches with Chicago on the tournament’s start date, June 27. Four days later, the Pride will play Portland; that’s followed by a matchup with the Courage on July 5, as Sky Blue will close out the series on July 9. All four matches will be played at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah.
The top eight teams from the preliminary round will advance to the quarterfinals, wherein the month-long competition becomes a knockout tournament. All games will be re-aired on CBS Sports Network, as the tournament-opener and the final will be shown live on CBS. Fans can also watch the entire tournament with a subscription to CBS All Access. For fans outside of the United States and Canada, all games can be watched on Twitch.
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Last season, the Pride finished last in the standings with the fewest wins (4-16-4) and fewest points (16). North Carolina, Chicago and Portland finished first (15-5-4, 49 points), second (14-8-2, 44 points) and third (11-6-7, 40 points), respectively. Sky Blue finished just above Orlando in eighth with a 5-14-5 (20 points) record.
The Courage defeated the Red Stars 4-0 in the 2019 final for their second-straight championship; in 2018, North Carolina shut out Portland 3-0 in Portland to win the 2018 championship.
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