Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, longtime friends, are thriving in Italy

Their friendship began a dozen years ago while riding a team bus to U.S. youth national soccer training near Los Angeles.

For three decades, U.S. players venturing to Europe to further their careers have landed in Germany and England. Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Belgium are also popular spots. Few have thrived in Italy, one of the continent’s big-five soccer countries boasting hallowed clubs with global followings.

McKennie echoed those thoughts, saying, last preseason: “I looked at myself and realized I lost a little bit of belief in myself. The confidence was kind of low. Coming back, I know what I do best is work.” When Serie A arranged a Zoom call last week for the pair to answer questions from U.S.-based reporters, their banter playfully illustrated their friendship.After McKennie relayed the stories about their first time together at U.S. youth camp, Pulisic laughed and said, “Yeah, I mean, I wasn't the kind of guy who would share stories like that but I'm glad Wes now put them all out there.”A reporter soon visiting Milan said she would pass the crackers along to Pulisic to give to McKennie.

Aside from Serie A, Pulisic scored once in the UEFA Champions League and, following Milan’s drop into the second-tier Europa League, he scored twice.McKennie has taken a four-year journey after arriving from Schalke in Germany, where he and Pulisic crossed paths in the Bundesliga.

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