United States manager Bruce Arena heralded his nine-man team after holding Italy to a 1-1 draw in their World Cup match. "After tonight I know I've got a fantastic bunch of players," FIFAworldcup.com quoted Arena as saying after Saturday's epic. The USA went one down in the 22nd minute but they waited only five minutes before an own goal from Cristian Zaccardo granted them the equalizer. The equalizer marked the end of scoring but not action. By the 47th minute three players had all received red cards, Italy's Daniele De Rossi for an elbow, America's Pablo Mastroeni for a harsh tackle and Eddie Pope for collecting a second booking. "The team was fantastic tonight, playing with nine men against ten," said USA's longtime coach. "It's the first time in my career that I've had two players sent off in one match. I don't want to talk about the red cards as I need to see the replays." Despite the two red cards created huge spaces behind the American defenders, they managed to snatch a point thanks to goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who defended the net unfailingly but credited his teammates for this success. "I can't say enough, I'm just happy to help out once in a while." Keller told a press conference. "This was a total team effort, those guys bled today for our country and for our team," added Keller, referring to Brian McBride whose face bled under De Rossi's elbow. Unlike Arena, who was hesitant to comment on the red cards, Italy's coach Marcello Lippi speculated the future of 22-year-old De Rossi.
De Rossi "Am I angry with (Daniele) De Rossi?" the Tuscan coach repeated after one reporter's question. "He made a serious mistake, but that's something we'll deal with in-house. I don't want to discuss it in public. He will be suspended and we'll pay the price." Lippi attributed the team's failure control the game to nerves and having not fully recovered from the previous match against Ghana, "We struggled tonight. We were off-color and didn't play nearly as well as we did against Ghana the other night," Lippi said. While the Lippi criticized Italy's inability to win considering their advantage in numbers, he said Italy are still in the race. "There's still everything to play for in Group E," the veteran coach said. Which team reaches the knockout stage from Group E will be decided on Thursday when leaders Italy, who have four points, face Czech Republic who are level with Ghana at three points. USA faces Ghana next, with only one point to their credit the Americans can still qualify for the next round. Team captain Claudio Reyna knows the weight of expectation surrounding the match with Ghana. "We have to beat Ghana now, no doubt about it," he said. "We have a super chance now. If we can win and hope that Italy win, then we're through. That's our goal and we can achieve it."
