Italy vs. Saudi Arabia: Time, Live Stream and Preview

The Roberto Mancini era will start for Italy on Monday, when he takes charge of his first match as manager in an international friendly against Saudi Arabia.

The two teams will meet on neutral ground, as the game will be played at FC St. Gallen's kybunpark stadium in Switzerland.

Kick-off will be at 7:45 p.m. BST (2:45 p.m. ET), and ESPN will provide live-stream options via ESPN 3.

Bold Squad Selection From Mancini

The Mancini appointment wasn't universally applauded among Italian fans, but the former Manchester City and Inter Milan boss won himself a lot of fans with his first squad selection.

Claudio Giovannini/Associated Press

He has called up a number of talented youngsters, including Fiorentina's Federico Chiesa and Juventus' Rolando Mandragora, who is coming off a breakout campaign on loan at Crotone.

The Sassuolo duo of Domenico Berardi and Matteo Politano are also in the squad and on course to earn their first caps, but all those call-ups were overshadowed by that of controversial forward Mario Balotelli.

Formerly of Liverpool, Manchester City, Inter and AC Milan, Balotelli has rebuilt his career and reputation with OGC Nice, scoring plenty of goals for the Ligue 1 outfit:

As reported by David Hills of the Guardian, Balotelli and Mancini were involved in a training-ground confrontation that almost turned physical during their City days―it's a remarkable step for the manager to be the one to bring him back into the national team.

Given the relative weakness of their upcoming opponents, all of those youngsters and Balotelli should like their chances of seeing some real playing time.

Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal Power Saudi Selection

Only three members of the Saudi Arabia squad play their football outside of their nation, and Yahya Al-Shehri, Fahad Al-Muwallad and Salem Al-Dawsari only moved to Spain in January as part of a giant loan deal.

On paper, the Saudi team is not a strong one, with a large portion of the squad coming from two clubs: Al-Ahli and Al-Hilal. The pair dominated the domestic league this year, finishing ahead of the pack by double digits.

Italy should provide the Green Falcons with a great first test ahead of the FIFA World Cup, a tournament they did qualify for, unlike the Azzurri. Saudi Arabia suffered a 4-0 defeat against Belgium in March but bounced back with wins over Algeria and Greece in May.