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| Italy v USA: international friendly – live! | Italy v USA: international friendly – live! |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Nope...nothing yet, just anthems:Italy arm in arm and looking relaxed as they belt out their singalong (A couple of them are even swaying), after the US youngsters stood looking pretty petrified during their anthem, like a line of kindergarteners on their first visit to the principal’s office. Apart from Pulisic, tonight’s captain, who as usual looked pretty unfazed by any occasion he finds himself in. | |
| The USA does not have a head coach yet:This blog has been live for about an hour now, and there’s still no sign of a permanent head coach for the USA, which leaves the youngest ever starting XI for a US national team wandering around Italy, like a lost group of gap year backpackers. Gregg Berhalter’s Columbus Crew SC are out of the MLS playoffs now, so it may be that he’ll be confirmed in the coming days — so this should be Dave Sarachan’s last game in charge. He’s done a competent job cycling the next generation through, but the lack of coherent direction forward has been painfully apparent in the last couple of international get togethers. | |
| Twitter reaches fever pitch | |
| Er, condolences. | |
| Snark aside (granted — a tall order for a Guardian liveblog) even the US players are beginning to let their diplomatic masks slip when showing up for these international windows, since the months have drifted by without sign of a permanent coach. The 3-0 loss to England was pretty dismal, but hardly unexpected after window after window of constantly rotating formations (we’re expecting a 3-5-2 today FWIW) and personnel. Ironically, the list of teams the USA has played in that time have represented something of a Who’s Who of elite world teams, yet it’s been hard to see how those experiences can coalesce into any sort of coherent institutional memory for the coming World Cup cycle. | |
| Italy: | |
| Sirigu, De Sciglio, Acerbi, Bonucci, Emerson Palmieri, Barella, Sensi, Verratti, Chiesa, Lasagna, Berardi. Subs: Cragno, Mancini, Biraghi, Gagliardini, Pavoletti, Grifo, Rugani, Tonali, Kean, Politano, Donnarumma. | |
| USA: | |
| Horvath, Carter-Vickers, Zimmerman, Long, Adams, Cannon, Moore, Delgado, Acosta, Pulisic, Sargent. Subs: Guzan, Miazga, Wood, Weah, Lletget, Green, Villafana, Trapp, Gall. So, Sassuolo’s Berardi, Udinese’s Lasagna and Fiorentina’s Chiesa will get first crack at yet another reshuffled USA defense, with Ethan Horvath replacing Brad Guzan in goal, and by the looks of it, everybody replacing everybody else. Except Pulisic. Josh Sargent has recovered from his slight injury worry to get a proper run out up top for the USA, but other than that it’s a continuation of this year’s theme of giving exposure and experience to numerous young players with an EYE TO THE FUTURE or something.Get ready for some meaningful action. | |
| Italy:So after the weekend’s 0-0 draw with Portugal, Roberto Mancini has slightly shuffled his squad around — with the following 22 in place for tonight’s game: | |
| GOALKEEPERS (3): Alessio Cragno (Cagliari; 0/0), Gianluigi Donnaurumma (AC Milan; 11/0), Salvatore Sirigu (Torino; 18/0) | |
| DEFENDERS (7): Francesco Acerbi (Lazio; 2/0), Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina; 4/1), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus; 84/6), Mattia De Sciglio (Juventus; 36/0), Gianluca Manchini (Atalanta; 0/0), Emerson Palmieri (Chelsea/ENG; 1/0), Daniele Rugani (Juventus; 7/0) | |
| MIDFIELDERS (6): Nicolò Barella (Cagliari; 3/0), Roberto Gagliardini (Inter Milan; 5/0), Vincenzo Grifo (Hoffenheim/GER; 0/0), Stefano Sensi (Sassuolo; 0/0), Sandro Tonali (Brescia; 0/0), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA; 28/1) | |
| FORWARDS (6): Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo; 4/0), Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina; 10/0), Moise Kean (Juventus; 0/0), Kevin Lasagna (Udinese; 2/0), Leonardo Pavoletti (Cagliari; 0/0), Matteo Politano (Inter Milan; 1/0) | |
| It’s a young looking squad, as they generally have been since the failure to qualify for the World Cup mandated change. After Leonardo Bonucci, there’s a pretty steep drop off in terms of international experience, until you get to Marco Verratti, who is by far the most experienced international midfielder Italy will have on the field. Both will be starting tonight. | |
| What’s most intriguing is wondering who out of the group of forwards is going to make a name for themselves and establish themselves in this group. The USA’s permanent state of flux ought to make for a...er...sympathetic defense to face under the circumstances. | |
| Afternoon all, and welcome to the latest episode of the end of history. With Dave Sarachan’s interim stint as US head coach entering its | Afternoon all, and welcome to the latest episode of the end of history. With Dave Sarachan’s interim stint as US head coach entering its |
| third decade | third decade |
| 13th month, we’re ending another international window with yet more carefully curated Glimpses O’ The Future™ sprinkled in lightly organized formations across a field, and no permanent solution in sight.We’ve been promised that the USA will have a permanent head coach by the end of the year, and doubtless there’ll be some kind of Guardian liveblog set up to document a nation holding its breath to track progress on that front, as the shortlist is whittled down from its current length of one whole name. | 13th month, we’re ending another international window with yet more carefully curated Glimpses O’ The Future™ sprinkled in lightly organized formations across a field, and no permanent solution in sight.We’ve been promised that the USA will have a permanent head coach by the end of the year, and doubtless there’ll be some kind of Guardian liveblog set up to document a nation holding its breath to track progress on that front, as the shortlist is whittled down from its current length of one whole name. |
| Meanwhile Italy are looking like a very model of stability by comparison, what with their credible draws and Nations League solidity under Roberto Mancini making them look just like classic group stage Italian sides of yore, if you squint a bit. They’ll play host this afternoon/evening. | Meanwhile Italy are looking like a very model of stability by comparison, what with their credible draws and Nations League solidity under Roberto Mancini making them look just like classic group stage Italian sides of yore, if you squint a bit. They’ll play host this afternoon/evening. |
| We’ll have some team news shortly, but for now get your tweets coming in to @grahamparkerfc or email graham.parker@theguardian.com with the subject line, “How does it take a year to say Gregg Berhalter?” and I’ll get back to you sometime in the next World Cup cycle. | We’ll have some team news shortly, but for now get your tweets coming in to @grahamparkerfc or email graham.parker@theguardian.com with the subject line, “How does it take a year to say Gregg Berhalter?” and I’ll get back to you sometime in the next World Cup cycle. |
| Graham will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s some transfer speculation regarding Christian Pulisic: | Graham will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s some transfer speculation regarding Christian Pulisic: |
| Christian Pulisic has said he is open to moving to the Premier League, with Chelsea understood to be leading the race to sign the forward from Borussia Dortmund next summer. | Christian Pulisic has said he is open to moving to the Premier League, with Chelsea understood to be leading the race to sign the forward from Borussia Dortmund next summer. |
| The USA international is expected to face his clubmate Jadon Sancho at Wembley on Thursday having been left out of the Dortmund side that beat Bayern Munich on Saturday in favour of the 18-year-old Englishman. | The USA international is expected to face his clubmate Jadon Sancho at Wembley on Thursday having been left out of the Dortmund side that beat Bayern Munich on Saturday in favour of the 18-year-old Englishman. |
| Pulisic has been linked to several Premier League sides including Liverpool and Tottenham in the past but it is understood that Chelsea have shown most interest in prising him away from the Bundesliga leaders. | Pulisic has been linked to several Premier League sides including Liverpool and Tottenham in the past but it is understood that Chelsea have shown most interest in prising him away from the Bundesliga leaders. |
| You can read the full article below: | You can read the full article below: |