Italian football has suffered its biggest setback recently and they continue to rebuild towards a better future with Roberto Mancini at the helm. The Italians are one of the world’s biggest teams and they are expected to partake in every global or continental showpiece, so it was a slap in the face when they couldn’t make it to the last World Cup.
That failure cost their then manager his job and Mancini has been given the task to restore their former glory days. He has largely been experimenting as he continues to search for his best team. They managed to avoid relegation from the Euro Nations League, but they have won just one of their last seven games and they should give their fans something to cheer in this game.
USA also failed to qualify for the World Cup perhaps in a more disappointing manner as the likes of Panama did qualify ahead of them. They had to fire two managers following that failed qualifying campaign and Dave Sarachan who remains an interim manager hasn’t have much success either.
They come into this game on the back of a single win in seven games, while they are a side filled with talented players, there seems to be so much work left to be done in the rebuilding of one of the biggest teams in North America.