Real Salt Lake vs Inter: Friendly Preview, Team News and Ways to Watch

Inter kicks off its summer tour in the United States this evening when Roberto Mancini and his players take on MLS side Real Salt Lake in Utah. This is only the second time Inter has played against an MLS team, the first being back in 2010 when the team played out a 2-2 draw against FC Dallas.

Match Facts:

Date: Tuesday, July 19th, 2016

Time: 10:00 ET/4:00 CET

Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium; Salt Lake City, Utah

RSL comes into this match in 4th place in the MLS Western Conference. They just played out a 0-0 draw against the New England Revolution this Sunday and take on the San Jose Earthquakes on Friday so the team has a very busy week. I would not be surprised to see the MLS team using the same mentality that Mancini used in the prior two friendlies: don’t push too hard and risk an injury.

On the other side, I expect Mancini will start to be a little more liberal with his team and allow them to exert themselves rather than playing reservedly. He has talked about how he wants his side to take the International Champions Cup seriously this summer and though this game against RSL is not part of the ICC, he will be expecting his side to perform much better than in the defeat against CSKA Sofia last week.

There hasn’t been much talk about who will be starting this match but since it’s a friendly we should expect a mix of those eyeing a first-team spot and Primavera players with a whole lot of substitutions included. As we know those who participated in Copa America and Euro 2016 are not a part of the summer tour and will train in Italy instead (Ever Banega took part in his first training session today).

Inter USA Summer Tour Squad:

Goalkeepers: Handanovic, Carrizo, Berni, Di Gregorio;

Defenders: Ranocchia, Ansaldi, Erkin, Miranda, D'Ambrosio, Nagatomo, Miangue, Della Giovanna;

Midfielders: Kondogbia, Bessa, Gnoukouri, Melo, Zonta;

Forwards: Palacio, Icardi, Jovetic, Biabiany, Bakayoko, Pinamonti.

How to Watch:

TV: Sky Sports 1 (Italy), KMYU Utah (USA)

Radio: ESPN 700 (USA)