US, Italy in bruising draw

The United States and Italy fought out a tough 1-1 draw featuring three red cards at the World Cup yesterday while Ghana claimed Africa's first victory at the finals, an upset 2-0 win over Czech Republic. Portugal qualified for the knockout stage for the first time since 1966, their 2-0 win over Iran meaning the Iranians will go home from Germany after the first round.

Alberto Gilardino gave Italy the lead with a header in their Group E clash but an own goal from Cristian Zaccardo put the Americans back on level terms in the 27th minute. One minute later, Italy's Daniele De Rossi was sent off for elbowing Brian McBride, whose bloodied face required treatment.

The Americans' numerical advantage did not last long. Their midfielder Pablo Mastroeni got a straight red card for a sliding challenge at the end of the first half and defender Eddie Pope got a second yellow for a tackle soon after the interval. The three dismissals equalled the World Cup record. The United States looked the better side in the second half, although they needed some brilliant reaction saves from goalkeeper Kasey Keller to keep them level.

"Two red cards in the spread of five minutes is pretty harsh and I respect the team for the way they dealt with it," US coach Bruce Arena said after the game in Kaiserslautern, home to thousands of US soldiers and their families. "There is no way you can train a team to play 10 against nine for thirtysomething minutes," he added. "A lot of teams would use it as an excuse for losing on the day." His Italian counterpart Marcello Lippi declared himself "disappointed and angry".

"We didn't go into this match in the right frame of mind and we paid for that with the nervous way we played and with the mistakes we made," he said. Group E is delicately balanced, with Italy on four points, the Czechs and Ghana both on three and the US on one. - Reuters