A Running Diary: USA-Italy

SNE's As-It-Happens Commentary on the Yanks' Confederations Opener

By Mark Goodman

June 16, 2009

The United States was the only side to get a result off Italy in the 2006 World Cup with a hotly contested 1-1 draw, so there can be little question about the Italians’ motivation for this game. This is a huge test for the U.S.

Lineups
USA: 1-Tim Howard; 21-Jonathan Spector, 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 15-Jay DeMerit, 2-Jonathan Bornstein; 22-Benny Feilhaber, 13 -Ricardo Clark, 12-Michael Bradley, 8-Clint Dempsey; 10-Landon Donovan, 17-Jozy Altidore
Subs: 3-Carlos Bocanegra, 4-Conor Casey, 6-Heath Pearce, 7-DaMarcus Beasley, 9-Charlie Davies, 11-Marvell Wynne, 14-Danny Califf, 16-Sacha Kljestan, 18-Brad Guzan, 19-Freddy Adu, 20-Jose Francisco Torres, 23-Luis Robles

Italy: 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 19-Gianluca Zambrotta, 4-Girogio Chiellini, 6-Nicola Legrottaglie, 3-Fabio Grosso; 8-Gennaro Gattuso, 10-Daniele De Rossi, 21-Andrea Pirlo; 15-Vincenzo Iaquinta, 11-Alberto Gilardino, 16-Mauro Camoranesi
Subs: 2-Davide Santon, 5-Fabio Cannavaro, 7-Simone Pepe, 9-Luca Toni, 12-Morgan De Sanctis, 13-Alessandro Gamberini, 14-Marco Amelia, 17-Giuseppe Rossi, 18-Angelo Palombo, 20-Riccardo Monolivo, 22-Andrea Dossena, 23-Fabio Quagliarella

Referee: Pablo Pozo (Chile)

Minute 1 - And we’re off. When did Italy steal Uruguay’s kits?

6’ - Onyewu just gets a boot to a through ball from Camoranesi. Italy, as could be expected, has had the better of these early minutes. The Americans’ defending will be interesting tonight, with Gooch the only regular out there with Spector, DeMerit and Bornstein.

8’ - Altidore draws a foul in a dangerous position, despite receiving the ball with three Italians surrounding him.

9’ - Donovan taps the free kick to Dempsey, who blasts the ball over from about 28 yards.

11’ - Bornstein misjudges a high cross and lets the ball bounce right to Camoranesi in the box, but he fires it over the bar. Oh dear, Jonathan.

13’ - Gilardino gets a good attempt on goal with a 25-yard volley, but it’s right at Howard.

16’ - Camoranesi waltzes right into the box on the left side, but his cross is headed out by Onyewu.

18’ - Play-by-play man J.P. Dellacamera informs us the U.S. is 14th in the FIFA world rankings. That’s awfully generous for a team that probably wouldn’t even qualify for the World Cup if they played in Europe.

20’ - Legrottaglie misses a completely open header off a free kick from Pirlo from the right wing. Dreadful defending form the Americans, but they got away with it.

23’ - Altidore is going to need more support up top if the U.S. wants any chance to score.

26’ - Bradley performs a good tackle on Pirlo, then springs into the box where he runs on to a good ball form Donovan. The coach’s son, however, scuffs his left-footed shot and it bounces harmlessly to Buffon.

30’ - Another tackle from Bradley springs an attack, with Donovan hitting Altidore in stride in the box. Altidore’s attempted pass back to Donovan has nothing on it, and the attack is over. He should have shot there.

31’ - Onyewu comes back to bail out DeMerit as Gilardino is taking him on one-on-one.

33’ - Unbelievable. Clark is sent off for a poor challenge on Gattuso, sliding in late and getting the Italian’s knee. A yellow card, for certain, but a red seems harsh. Shades of Pablo Mastroeni against Italy in the 2006 World Cup.

35’ - Grosso elbows Donovan, and only gets a yellow card, naturally. The ensuing free kick from Donovan misses the net by a wide margin.

39’ - Bornstein hits a gorgeous finish into the net - his own net. Luckily, the player he was rushing back to cover had been called for offsides, and the own goal will not count.

40’ - Penalty! Altidore cuts inside Chiellini in the box, gets kicked, and falls down. No booking from this preposterous referee, but he points to the spot.

41’ - Goal! Donovan takes a textbook penalty, slotting it to Buffon’s left as the keeper dove right. Color analyst John Harkes says, “The U.S. is back at it, 1-1, with a man short.” It’s 1-0, of course, but who’s counting.

42’ - Bradley tests Buffon from 30 yards out with a hard, swerving shot, but the Italian gets his hands on it for the save.

45’+2 - Onyewu heads out a corner from Pirlo. He has been immense so far.

Halftime, U.S. 1, Italy 0 - Having scored a goal with a man down and being up at the half, Bob Bradley can’t ask for much more. Gooch and Michael Bradley have been terrific, and credit to Donovan for taking the game to Italy when the chance presents itself. Now, can the Americans hold on while playing 10-on-12?

In the ESPN studio, Rece Davis refers to the U.S. as “shorthanded” four times. I didn’t realize I was watching hockey.

48’ - DeMerit steps in with a tackle on Iaquinta just outside the U.S. penalty area. I sense a goal for Italy before too long.

50’ - Altidore tries to take on four Italians, and he has to because no one is running with him.

56’ - Montolivo and New Jersey’s Rossi come on for Camoranesi and Gattuso.

59’ - Goal! Rossi, born and raised for 13 years in the United States, steals the ball easily from Feilhaber and rips an excellent 30-yard shot past Howard, who had no chance. A brilliant goal.

64’ - Predictably, the U.S. has spent the entire half defending. It doesn’t look good here.

66’ - Boston College grad Davies enters, replacing Altidore. Will Davies touch the ball in these last 25 minutes?

68’ - Pirlo fires on goal from close to 30 yards. Howard saves, but the rebound goes right to Iaquinta, who shoots it wide. The Italians are gradually turning this into a game of target practice.

69’ - Feilhaber absolutely maims Pirlo from behind, with no booking from the referee. This is a stunning performance from the man in black. Meanwhile, Toni replaces Gilardino.

72’ - Goal! DeRossi is given a mile of space and, from 35 yards out, unleashes a belter on goal. Onyewu looks like he could’ve gotten his left foot to it, but tried to reach across with his right instead and boot it away, perhaps fearing an awkward deflection. Either way, it wasn’t good, and he may have been blocking Howard’s view to boot.

Oh, and Beasley has come on for Feilhaber. The obvious gulf in class really shows here - Italy can bring on Rossi and Toni off the bench, the U.S. has called on Davies and Beasley.

79’ - Davies tries to run at two defenders and loses the ball. That won’t help. Shortly thereafter, Montolivo has a crack from distance, but Howard handles it.

80’ - The best chance for the Americans in this half, as Dempsey bends in a shot from 30 yards, forcing Buffon into a rather uncomfortable save.

81’ - Davies’s cross for Donovan never finds its mark, as Legrottaglie jumps through Donovan and knocks him to the ground in the area. No penalty from the referee, of course.

84’ - Chiellini, being marked by Dempsey, gets a header to a Pirlo corner. It goes high, but Italy is getting too many chances like these from corners.

85’ - Kljestan replaces Bornstein.

88’ - Toni does what Toni does best - heads a cross right at the keeper despite being completely unmarked. Down the other end of the pitch, Kljestan just misses high on a good shot from 25 yards out.

90’ - Beasley, now playing left back, turns on the jets down the left flank and has his cross deflected out for a corner. Davies has a clear header on said corner, but strikes it poorly and sends it well over the net. He should’ve gotten that one on target.

90’+1 - Pirlo, who has been nearly perfect in midfield for Italy, slips a ball into Rossi just outside the six-yard box. Howard makes a great save on Rossie’s first-time shot.

90’+2 - Pirlo threads the needle between two U.S. defenders for Toni, who shoots it right at Howard.

90’+4 - Goal! Pirlo makes an absolutely outrageous move to spin past DeMerit on the left flank, takes it to the byline and cuts it back to Rossi, who blasts it home from the penalty spot. What a play from Pirlo, who has to be the man of the match.

Full time: Italy 3, U.S. 1 - All things considered, a reasonable performance from the Americans. The back line performed well, Howard made a couple great saves, and Donovan kept the Italian defense honest with a number of good, aggressive runs on the ball. The U.S. was occasionally careless in midfield, highlighted by Feilhaber’s giveaway for Rossi’s first goal and its reluctance to challenge some of those long-distance shots.

Dempsey was rather nondescript in this match, as he has been for a while in the red, white and blue. What happened to the marauding, free-wheeling, attacking play that we saw in the last World Cup?

Next up: Brazil, Thursday, 9:55 a.m. This should be fun.

Mark Goodman can be reached at newsdesk@soccernewengland.com.