US Can't Finish Italian Job

ESPN studio host Rece Davis probably said it best. Monday at the Confederations Cup, we found the next (or first if you will) American soccer star.

The problem, Giuseppe Rossi played in the blue of Italy, not the U.S. white Monday in the Confederations Cup Group B opener for both teams. The New Jersey born attacker came on as a second half substitute and promptly scored a pair of cracking goals to give the Azzurri a 3-1 win in Pretoria, South Africa. The U.S. remains winless in seven all-time matches against Italy.

Suffice to say, whenever the U.S. and Italy play, it never lacks drama. And this one picked up right where the testy 2006 World Cup affair left off, again with a red card at the center of the controversy.

American midfielder Ricardo Clark was shown a straight red for a some-what reckless challenge on an Gennaro Gattuso, lunging with his cleat up into the knee. In fairness, it was certainly a foul and a yellow card. But the straight red in the 32nd minute seemed harsh, especially with some of the calls later on by ref Pablo Pozo.

No matter, the U.S. actually had the better run off play down to 10 men. In the 39th minute, American forward Jozy Altidore was hacked down inside the penalty area after collecting a nice long pass from Benny Feilhaber, with captain Landon Donovan converting the ensuing spot kick to put the U.S. ahead 1-0 at the half.

All in all, it was strong first half for the U.S. considering the stumbles against Honduras and Costa Rica earlier this month.

It didn't take long for it all to unravel for Bob Bradley's team in the second half, however.

Italian coach Marcello Lippi dug into his bag of tricks, or at least his well-stacked bench. In the 56th minute he replaced the aged legs of Mauro Camoranesi and Gattuso, bringing on Rossi and Riccardo Montolivo in their place. It proved to be a master stroke, which changed the game.

The move paid immediate dividends as the Italians asserted their dominance shortly thereafter.

Two minutes later, Rossi took the ball off Feilhaber at midfield and rushed up the field and ripped an absolute cracker past the full dive of Tim Howard. Top shelf stuff from the former Manchester United reserve.

In the 71st minute, the U.S. was again beaten from long range. And this one hurt almost as much as the Rossi goal, since it was Danielle De Rossi, the player who famously elbowed Brian McBride in the head in 2006, who scored. De Rossi took an attempt from over 40 yards out and skimmed it over the grass and past Howard. It appeared American defender Oguchi Onyewu screened the keeper and also missed on his attempt to knock it away.

The icing on the cake for Italy came inside stoppage time when Andrea Pirlo put it on a platter directly into the run of Rossi, who ripped it by Howard on the half-volley.

Ouch.

There are probably two ways to look at this from the U.S. standpoint. The first is that they played great in the first half and held on for a while against a good team with only 10 men. That's probably the attitude as a player and coach you have to take, with a match with Brazil on the horizon (Thursday). The U.S. could even quibble that they were denied a penalty when an Italian defender jumped completely over the back of Donovan inside the box late in the game.

But as a fan, there wasn't much to like in the second half. Even with 10 men, the U.S. looked pretty limp as the Italians were able to carve them up at will, especially after Rossi came on. There wasn't a lot of bunkering down and clearances, the U.S. just let the Azzurri do whatever they pleased.

And for all the possession and nice passing the U.S. made, they didn't put too many shots on goal. Twice Donovan made nice passes into the runs of Michael Bradley and Altidore and each time they whiffed on shots at close range. In a match against a top-five side in the world, you have to convert those opportunities to have any sort of a chance.

The U.S. staff can spin the result as they please. But it was reported by ESPN at the half the U.S. hadn't given up a short-handed goal since something like 2004. Either they ran out of gas or simply weren't good enough on Monday. Take the moral victory route if you want, but that's not the tune most logged into the FanHouse live blog felt.

Still, even being cynical, it was probably a somewhat encouraging performance (the first half) against a good Italian team that showed the gulf in class between the two teams in the final 40 minutes.

It just burns that Rossi spurned the U.S. to play for Italy, the country of his father. And with defender Neven Subotic scoring for Serbia recently, there are a lot of players slipping through the cracks for the U.S.

Then again, if given the chance when you're Rossi, wouldn't you want to have the chance to play for Italy and actually have a chance to win World Cups, not simply just qualify for them?

Here's what the powers that be at the U.S. Federation let slip away ...