Rossi hits land of his birth

USA 1 Italy 3:US-BORN Giuseppe Rossi scored twice as Italy staged a second-half recovery to beat 10-man USA in their Group B match at Loftus Versfeld last night.

Rossi equalised in the 58th minute and added the third goal in stoppage time, with a long-range effort from Daniele De Rossi sandwiched in between to ensure a winning start at the eight-team tournament for the world champions.

In the 33rd minute the US were reduced to 10 men when Houston Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clark lunged petulantly at Gennaro Gattuso in midfield and Chilean referee Pablo Pozo wasted no time in producing a straight red card.

However, far from demoralising them, the sending off acted as a spur for the Americans.

In the 40th minute, Giorgio Chiellini hauled down young USA striker Jozy Altidore and a penalty was awarded. Landon Donovan kept his cool to slot past Gianluigi Buffon for the lead.

All the pressure was on the Italians to get back into the match.

The inspiration came from substitute Rossi. The Villarreal striker took the ball off Clint Dempsey in midfield with his first touch in the 58th minute, inside 50 seconds of coming on, raced towards goal and unleashed a left-foot strike past Tim Howard from 30 yards.

And in the 71st minute, Daniele de Rossi turned an unleashed a low drive from the edge of the box that snuck by two defenders and just past Howard.

Rossi rubbed salt into the wounds four minutes into stoppage time, slamming a half-volley home from close range.

ITALY: Buffon, Zambrotta, Chiellini, Legrottaglie, Grosso, Camoranesi (Montolivo 57), Gattuso (Rossi 58), De Rossi, Pirlo, Iaquinta, Gilardino (Toni 69). Subs not used: Amelia, De Sanctis, Santon, Cannavaro, Pepe, Gamberini, Palombo, Dossena, Quagliarella. Booked: Legrottaglie, Grosso.

USA: Howard, Spector, DeMerit, Onyewu, Bornstein (Kljestan 86), Bradley, Feilhaber, Clark, Dempsey, Altidore (Davies 66), Donovan. Subs not used: Guzan, Bocanegra, Casey, Pearce, Beasley, Wynne, Califf, Adu, Torres, Robles. Sent off: Clark (34). Booked: Bornstein.

Referee: Pablo Pozo (Chile).