Blood and guts battle keeps America alive

KAISERSLAUTERN, June 18 (Reuters) Italy and the United States proved in their thundering 1-1 draw that the excitement of World Cup football is not always provided by silky skills and smooth possession.

With three red cards, crunching tackles, lots of passion and sheer grit and determination from both sides, there was never a dull moment in the group E match.

Nor did this game live up to the stereotypes of US and Italian football.

The Americans, who kept their qualification hopes alive in a tight group, showed they can match a top European team on a tactical and technical level, albeit assisted by some tremendous aggression.

No-one has ever doubted the skill and astuteness of Marcello Lippi's Italy team but the players also proved they can mix it physically when they need to and confirmed their own claims of a stronger team spirit.

The red cards, only the fourth time there have been three dismissals in a match at a World Cup finals, may leave the impression this was a dirty game but that would be a harsh judgement.

Certainly, there could be no argument with Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda's dismissal of Italy's Daniele De Rossi for an ugly elbow on Brian McBride, which left the blood-splattered striker needing three stitches below his left eye.

Americans Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Pope then paid the price for the lowered tolerance towards late tackles from behind.

However, most of the clashes were hard but fair and despite the battling spirit both sides displayed there was hardly any dissent and no loss of control from anyone other than De Rossi.

It was De Rossi's elbow, described by Lippi as the midfielder's ''umpteenth stupid mistake'' that turned the game.

Although Cristian Zaccardo's own goal had cancelled out Alberto Gilardino's opener for Italy, the Azzurri coped pretty well with a thrusting and forceful early period from the U.S.

With De Rossi off, though, Lippi was forced to replace his main creative forward player, Francesco Totti, with the battling midfielder Gennaro Gattuso -- adding steel to his midfield but leaving him short of imagination and inspiration.

ITALIAN SLOG From then on it was clearly going to be a slog for Italy and even though the Americans lost two players, handing Lippi's side a numerical advantage, they were unable to make the most of it.

The second half was old school football -- raw and gutsy -- and also put paid to another lingering stereotype about the United States and the game of soccer.

The thousands of U.S. fans outshouted the Italian supporters, roaring their team on and hurling abuse at some of the refereeing decisions with the kind of passion found at Spanish or English stadiums every week.

The American fans as well as their players deserve to be taken seriously.

Their anger at the annulment of substitute DaMarcus Beasley's effort in the 65th minute was, however, misplaced.

McBride was clearly in an offside position, blocking the line of sight of Italy keeper Gianluigi Buffon.

The Italians might have produced one of their characteristic late winners but substitute Vincenzo Iaquinta's touch twice let him down inside the penalty area.

Those were just the sort of chances Filippo Inzaghi, left on the bench, thrives on and Lippi will surely reflect on that ahead of Thursday's final group game with Czech Republic.

All four teams still have a chance with the group to be decided on Thursday and while the U.S. have just one point before playing Ghana, while Italy have four, it is the Americans who will take most encouragement from Saturday's showdown.

REUTERS PDS RAI0500