"Perhaps four points for the U.S. team will be good enough to get out of the group," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said.

Pope and Mastroeni will miss Thursday's game against Ghana. McBride, who has twice had plastic surgery to repair soccer injuries, said he's fine to play.

"Brian has, I think, a few titanium plates in his face already," Keller said, "so you know he's going to stick his head in places where most people would really prefer not to."

The draw was a milestone in U.S. soccer history. The Americans were 0-8 in World Cup games played in Europe, and they had never gotten even a single point in Europe in any match against the big five nations of Italy, England, Germany, Spain and France.

By the end, players' legs were heavy from running in the wide-open space created by all the red cards. The United States, which brought on Conrad after Pope was sent off, ended the game in a formation of four defenders, three midfielders and one forward. The Azzurri used three forwards to apply pressure.

But thanks greatly to Keller, the Americans didn't buckle.

For a few brief seconds, it even appeared the United States had gone ahead in the 70th minute, when second-half sub DaMarcus Beasley slotted the ball in off goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. But with Arena pumping an arm on the sideline, the whistle blew for an offside call on McBride.

Keller then made the save of the night, jumping to his right to palm away a short shot by a wide-open Del Piero, who had gotten a chip from Pirlo. Keller made another outstanding stop on Del Piero in the 79th.