KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany - They lumbered from end to end, desperate to stop
the blue surge of Italian players and salvage their World Cup.
Two American players had been ejected. What could have been the winning goal
was disallowed.
And in the end, with players dropping to field in exhaustion, the United
States managed a wild 1-1 tie Saturday night that gave the Americans their
first-ever World Cup point in Europe and a chance to advance to the tournament's
second round.
They'll need a win and some help, but the Americans are still players on the
World Cup stage. Even if they needed an own-goal to tie the Italians.
"This team is alive, and that's where we wanted to be," goalkeeper Kasey
Keller said. "It was a total team effort and those guys bled today for our
country and our team."
He wasn't exaggerating.
Forward Brian McBride had three stitches on one cheek from a vicious elbow. A
bandage covered where Landon Donovan received intravenous fluid. Jimmy Conrad
had cotton stuffed up his nose, also the result of an elbow, and played part of
the game with vision so blurry he had to ask a teammate whether he was bleeding.
"A roller-coaster," Clint Dempsey called it.
Harshly criticized for lackluster and nervous play in their opener, the
Americans came out strong, winning the ball and living in Italy's half of the
field.
But then Alberto Gilardino got behind the U.S. defense and headed Andrea
Pirlo's free kick past Keller in the 22nd minute. The Americans tied the score
in the 27th when Italy defender Cristian Zaccardo knocked Bobby Convey's free
kick into the net as he tried to clear the ball before it reached McBride.
Then Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda began flashing red cards at a pace
seldom seen in World Cup play.
First it was Italy's Daniele De Rossi, just a minute after the Americans tied
it. After the game he apologized for an elbow that split McBride's left cheek.
But after playing with a man advantage for 17 minutes, it was the Americans who
were seeing red.
First midfielder Pablo Mastroeni was sent to the locker room in the 45th
minute for a tackle on Pirlo. Coming out of the locker room 10 against 10, it
took just two minutes of the second half for defender Eddie Pope to get his
second yellow card of the game for a tackle in which he got the ball first, then
took down Gilardino.
The United States had some history with Larrionda, who awarded a penalty kick
against the Americans in the 2003 Confederations Cup during a chippy match
against Turkey.
"I think the ref ruined the game for us because we looked like the better
team and we wanted to win," captain Claudio Reyna said. "Even with nine men, we
pushed at the right times."
But they were also on their heels ¡ª Keller saved the Americans with a pair of
point-blank stops on Alessandro Del Piero in the final 20 minutes.
When the whistle blew, the American team went to a corner of the field to
salute the thousands of fans in red, white and blue who made a stadium near
several U.S. military bases feel like a home field.
"They were behind us, in front us, to the side of us. They were everywhere,"
defender Oguchi Onyewu said. "It definitely lifted us and gave us that extra
push."
With just nine men, they needed it.
"We gave everything, but it was difficult after the second red card," Reyna
said. "We gave everything at the end to get a point."
It was just the fourth time there have been three red cards in a World Cup
match, the first since South Africa-Denmark in 1998.
Entering the day, it appeared the Americans would need a win. But in the
earlier game, Ghana upset the Czechs 2-0. The result complicated a group that
after the first games seemed clear.
