The U.S. Men’s National Team brought their 2018 endeavours to a close on Tuesday night with a heartbreaking 1-0 defeat to Italy thanks to a last-gasp Matteo Politano strike after some masterful play by Marco Verratti to first initiate the move from the halfway line and the orchestrate it on the edge of the 18-yard box.
It was nothing that Italy did not deserve. They were by far the better team for almost all of the game, controlling the patterns of play with smart play in possession and suffocating pressure off the ball.
Italy out-shot the USMNT 17 to three, forced Ethan Horvath into five saves, and surrendered just one shot on target.