Italy rallies past US 3-1

The Americans were forced to play a man short for an hour after Ricardo Clark was sent off in the 33rd minute for a late tackle on Gennaro Gattuso.  It was a yellow card at best and unfortunate for a referee to have such a huge influnce on a match. 

Only minutes later though Us forward Jozy Altidore cut inside Giorgi Chielline and was fouled in the penalty area.   Landon Donovan scored his American record 40th international goal on the resulting penalty.

American raised Giuseppe Rossi was introduced to the Italian side in the 56th minute and evened the match only two minutes later on a lazer strike into the left side of the net from 25 yards out.

"Rossi gave us a burst of energy," Italy coach Marcello Lippi said. "He scored a great goal that calmed us down psychologically with a half hour still to go, and then he finished the game off. He offers different characteristics."

Then Daniele De Rossi put Italy ahead 2-1 in the 72nd with a 35-yard shot that bounced by defender Oguchi Onyewu and beat goalkeeper Tim Howard.  

Bradley and his players were unhappy with Chilean referee Pablo Pozo's decision to give the red card to Clark, saying the foul should have been merely a yellow card.  "The red card made all the difference," Donovan said. "Eleven guys from each team were prepared and ready to play the game, and the guy in the middle with the whistle wasn't."