GENK, Belgium -- Outgoing U.S. men's national team manager Dave Sarachan ended his spell in charge on a disappointing note thanks to a 1-0 defeat to Italy. But he believes he has moved the team forward in the nearly 13 months he was the head coach.
Sarachan was first named to manage the U.S. on a caretaker basis a year ago last October. In that time he went 3-5-4, all while playing more than 50 different players and giving debuts to 23 individuals.
"If it was my last game -- I haven't been told that, but it's evident there is going to be a change in the very near future -- I feel this has been a very good year for the program," said Sarachan at his post-match news conference. "I feel as the leader over the last 12 months of this program, I feel that we have moved it forward. It may not look like that to everyone on the outside, but if you look at the games we have played and the players we have exposed to this level, that we brought forth, I am certain it will pay dividends down the line. So for me, I feel like the next person that comes in is going to have a good starting point."
Tuesday's match provided a bitter finale to the Sarachan era, even as he fielded the youngest starting XI for the U.S. since at least 1990. The Americans hung on for the vast majority of the match, only for Matteo Politano's goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time to give Italy a late winner. While Italy were deserving winners, it didn't make the result any easier to take for the U.S. coaches and players.
"The takeaway for us is we're disappointed," said Sarachan. "As a group we're angry that we didn't close the game out at the end. That's a good sign. There are a number of guys in the locker room who were angry, and if we're going to learn as a young team, first things we're going to learn we don't like losing.
"The Italian mentality, they step on field with a real confidence about them. We knew there was going to be a lot of defending, a lot of grinding, and I thought our guys competed great tonight. That's another important element to this group in the learning process as we move forward is when you step on field, you try to win duels, you battle, you work as a collective. It may not be fun when you're defending a lot, and you're on your back foot, but I thought for the most part the guys put in great shift on the night."
The late goal was a killer for the U.S., especially for goalkeeper Ethan Horvath, who delivered several stellar saves on the night. Horvath just recently got back into the starting lineup with club side Club Brugge, and his sharpness was evident.
"Ethan had a really good night ... made some big saves," said Sarachan. "We think the goalkeeping pool of players is quite good in our national team. Ethan was given an opportunity tonight, and came up pretty big for us, so I was very pleased about that. Obviously I've been tracking him, and he's coming in with some confidence."
But the fact that Horvath was called upon so many times was one of several indicators of how much Italy dominated the match on the night. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the U.S. possessed the ball for just 26.7 percent of the match, and completed just 67 percent of its passes.
Sarachan said the match "once again exposes our level of, or our ability to be a little calmer on the ball, to be a little bit cleaner on the ball, to possess the ball."
How does the team's technical play get better?
"It gets better by continually being challenged in your own environment, and playing in teams that make you play out of pressure," said Sarachan. "I think we have players in our program that are getting better at it, and the way you measure it is playing games like tonight, where there's a lot of pressure, especially in the midfield. Some teams have it over us in that department. Hopefully the guys that are on the field tonight go back to their environments, get challenged every day, and we can continue to regroup as a group each time we play these friendlies."
Recent months have seen the U.S. go up against Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, England and Italy. The U.S. went 1-4-1 in that span, but Sarachan still feels these games, including Tuesday's, have had value for this group of young players.
"You hope these experiences continue to allow this group to grow, and for sure they will," he said. "We knew this fall series was going to be an ambitious one. It wasn't easy coming here playing an away game, and I think the guys learned a lot tonight."