The United States men will play two matches in Europe to close out 2018. First up is England at historic Wembley Stadium for Wayne Rooney’s testimonial match with the English national team. After the England match the USMNT heads to Belgium to play Italy on Tuesday at decidedly less historic Luminus Arena in Genk, Belgium.

Three Big Storylines:

1. The USMNT still does not have a permanent manager and Dave Sarachan will finish out his year in charge with rumours swirling that Gregg Berhalter will take charge in the new year. Sarachan is a respectable 3-3-3 in this lost year with no World Cup including a draw in France against France in their last game before they went on to win the World Cup and a win in another friendly against Mexico. Sarachan has kept the lineup rotating throughout his interim tenure, capping 50 players so far this year including 19 players getting their first senior national team cap. Jonathan Klinsmann and Romain Gall are the only uncapped players in the current camp although 12 players have five or less caps.
2. Christian Pulisic is back with the national team for only his second match of the year. Pulisic has had a series of injuries mostly coinciding with international breaks and has been conspicuously absent from the USMNT setup since last year’s failure to qualify for the World Cup. This will be the first USMNT roster featuring the presumptive next generation of American midfielders in Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams. A person that has not been absent is DeAndre Yedlin, Yedlin is the most capped field player on the roster with 56 (Brad Guzan has 59). At only 25 years old, Yedlin is on track to become the most capped Washington State native with the USMNT. Kasey Keller leads the pack at 102 caps while the Seattle Sounders Vice President of Soccer & Sporting Director Chris Henderson is second with 79 caps.
3. The English soccer media is great at making a mountain out of molehill. Just today there has been debates ranging from what number will Wayne Rooney wear (he will wear 10), will the gate receipts go to Rooney’s charity (no, but they are going to “pass around a bucket”) does Rooney really deserve a testimonial (yes, he’s their all-time leading scorer) and why do we do testimonials aren’t they beneath us (No). While the jaded English soccer media might be downplaying Rooney’s return, there is more news coming out of England camp as Lewis Dunk, Callum Wilson and Alex McCarthy are scheduled to make their senior England debut tonight while Jadon Sancho will be given his first start.

Lineups:

USA Roster:

GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Brad Guzan (Atlanta United FC; 59/0), 12-Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge/BEL; 2/0), 22-Jonathan Klinsmann (Hertha Berlin/GER; 0/0)

DEFENDERS (9): 6-John Brooks (Wolfsburg/GER; 35/3), 25-Reggie Cannon (FC Dallas; 1/0),

5-Cameron Carter-Vickers (Swansea City/WAL; 6/0), 26-Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls; 1/0), 3-Matt Miazga (Nantes/FRA; 10/1),18-Shaq Moore (Reus Deportiu/ESP; 3/0), 19-Jorge Villafaña (Portland Timbers; 19/0), 2-DeAndre Yedlin (Newcastle United/ENG; 56/0), 21-Walker Zimmerman (LAFC; 3/1)

MIDFIELDERS (12): 23-Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids; 21/2), 4-Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls; 7/1), 24-Luca de la Torre (Fulham/ENG; 1/0), 9-Marky Delgado (Toronto FC/CAN; 5/0), 27-Romain Gall (Malmö/SWE; 0/0), 16-Julian Green (Greuther Fürth/GER; 14/4), 14-Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 3/1), 8-Weston McKennie (Schalke/GER; 6/1), 10-Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 21/9), 15-Kenny Saief (Anderlecht/BEL; 3/0), 20-Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC; 9/0), 11-Tim Weah (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA; 7/1)

FORWARDS (2): 13-Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen/GER; 5/2), 7-Bobby Wood (Hannover 96/GER; 43/13)

England Roster:

GOALKEEPERS (4): Marcus Bettinelli (Fulham; 0/0), Jack Butland (Stoke City; 9/0), Alex McCarthy (Southampton; 0/0), Jordan Pickford (Everton; 13/0)

DEFENDERS (8): Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool; 4/0), Ben Chilwell (Leicester City; 3/0), Lewis Dunk (Brighton; 0/0), Joe Gomez (Liverpool; 5/0), Michael Keane (Everton; 4/0), Luke Shaw (Manchester United; 8/0), John Stones (Manchester City; 36/2), Kyle Walker (Manchester City; 43/0)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Ross Barkley (Chelsea; 24/2), Dele Ali (Tottenham Hotspur; 31/3), Fabian Delph (Manchester City; 16/0), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur; 36/3), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool; 47/0), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United; 20/2), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea; 9/0), Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur; 2/0)

FORWARDS (6): Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur; 34/19), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United; 29/6), Wayne Rooney (D.C. United; 119/53)*, Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 1/0), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City; 46/4), Callum Wilson (Bournemouth; 0/0)

How to Watch:

Time: Thursday November 15, Noon Pacific

Venue: Wembley Stadium — London

Available TV: ESPN2, UniMas, Univision Deportes

Available Streaming: Watch ESPN, Univision NOW

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