The Houston Dash will travel to Mexico City for a preseason friendly against Club Universitario Nacional Femenil (UNAM Pumas) on March 2, the team announced today.
The Dash will travel to Mexico on Feb. 28 and train in Mexico City leading up to the friendly on March 2. Following the friendly, the Dash will remain in Mexico to close out their week of training before returning to the United States on March 4.
This marks the second time Houston has traveled to Mexico to play a friendly against a LigaMX Femenil opponent. In September 2019, the Dash flew to Monterrey to take on Tigres Femenil for an international friendly during the September FIFA window. Houston was the first NWSL team to play a match in Mexico and this is the third meeting with a team from LigaMX Femenil.
Dash head coach James Clarkson says that traveling to Mexico to play teams only helps strengthen the relationship between the NWSL and LigaMX.
“This trip is a fantastic opportunity in our preparation for preseason and through the season,” Clarkson said. “I think the ability to go down to Mexico to get quality games for preseason is vitally important but also the experience of traveling abroad, getting the team together for comradery, team spirit I think it is fantastic.”
Once the Dash return to Houston, the team will continue to train at Houston Sports Park for the remainder of the preseason. Houston will take on the Chicago Red Stars on March 20 at PNC stadium for the opening game of the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup. Information on where to purchase tickets for the Challenge Cup is available at houstondash.com.
