Mental errors and good old fashioned bad bounces helped Italy bag three second half goals to defeat the U.S. Under-20 National Team 3-1, and send the brash Yanks crashing out of the World Youth Championships in Holland.
Hunter Freeman's second chance spot kick had given the Americans a halftime lead, but a shutout string of over 325 minutes was demolished in a fateful 21-minute span.
The junior Azzurri had the first opportunity to christen the scoresheet on five minutes when buzzing winger Marino Defendi stripped Jonathan Spector. The bald Atalanta prodigy set up Simone Bentivoglio for a piledriver, but U.S. keeper Quentin Westberg was quick to his left for the sprawling save.
It was a bullet dodged, yet also a portent of things to come.
The white-clad Americans got into the match in no time, but were unable to convert any of four quick fire crosses into the area.
Italy midfielder Daniele Galloppa was the first player into Esam Fatah's book after breaking the tournament taboo of nudging away a U.S. dead ball.
On 13 minutes, Graziano Pellé - the lanky center forward with the championship name – signaled that he was to be reckoned with on a warm Enschede evening. The #9 shirt capitalized on a Patrick Ianni slip to fire just over from 20 yards.
Chad Barrett did well to set up U.S. possession at midfield, and Freddy Adu tried Dennis Bergkamp's famous "Newcastle move" to the delight of the Dutch in attendance.
The Yanks then produced a spell of pressure that saw Eddie Gaven causing trouble in the area and Sammy Ochoa having a low drive booted away by Andrea Coda.
Marvell Wynne used his pace and a neat shoulder shimmy to elude both Antonio Nocerino and Raffaele De Martino on the right wing, but alert Italy keeper Emilano Viviano was able to clear his cross off of Ochoa's hairline.
The Italians finally tilted the pitch back in the other direction, with Pellé chesting down from Francesco Battaglia to force another Westberg save.
The handful of a striker tested Westberg again in the 21st minute; Wynne's mistimed jump and a failed Spector tackle allowed him room to fire, but the mohawked Troyes netminder was equal to the task.
At this point, it had become clear that Paolo Berrettini's boys were in the mood to rankle the Americans with physical play. However, Spector stopped several rushes with some smooth defense moves.
On the half hour, Pellé took a Galloppa pass into the area, but found Hunter Freeman in his face and was only able to shoot wide from 16 yards.
The troublesome Defendi nearly broke in alone on the next advance, but was halted by a questionable offside flag. The U.S. had not been scored on in the tourney, but exploitable holes in the backline were really beginning to show.
Clearly feeling threatened, the Yanks returned to the attack.
Barrett laid off for Eddie Gaven at the left corner of the box, and the MetroStar nearly broke the ice with a far post curler. The capped senior international seemed to think that he could have done better, but it took a quick paw from Viviano to push it over the bar.
Three minutes later, Gaven was central to a move that ended with Benny Feilhaber forcing Viviano into a low save from 22 yards.
As intermission neared, the Americans began to lean on their opponents; Barrett tracked back to make a nice steal, but a frustrated Adu was tripped up on a dangerous looking run.
Ochoa slipped Adu into the area on the subsequent attack, but his cutback was cleared away from the high slot.
The next time down, however, the D.C. United phenom would draw his second penalty foul in four games.
Good combo play from Gaven and Freeman on the left allowed Ochoa to squeeze off a shot from the top of the area. His blocked effort fell to Adu, who was chopped down by Battaglia while rounding the defender.
Despite a spot miss in the Argentina match, Adu was the man on the spot once again. Viviano was wise to his attempt, but Fatah ordered a re-try due to Azzurri encroachment.
This time, U.S. coach Sigi Schmid motioned for Freeman to take, and the Colorado Rapids rookie made no mistake to put the team ahead on the stroke of halftime.
Red, White & Blue skipper Greg Dalby then saw yellow for an unsportsmanlike tap away of the ball when Italy had won a foul near midfield.
Seconds before the break, the Americans almost doubled their lead through Barrett. The Fire man was sent streaking up the middle by Feilhaber, but his ill-conceived attempt to round Viviano ended in another fine stop by the Cesena youngster.
With Antonio Aquilanti having replaced penalty goat Battaglia, Italy came perilously close to equalizing scant moments after the second half kickoff.
Feilhaber upended Bentivoglio, and solid defender Michele Canini scooped inches over the crossbar from Nocerino's restart.
The U.S. buckled down in their marking and the game settled into the type of midfield slog they probably wanted having the lead.
Lino Marzoratti performed an expert tackle on Barrett as the forward was working his way along the top of the area into shooting position.
Just when all things seemed to right for the Yanks, a major piece of misfortune provided the assist to an Italy leveler.
Westberg punched away a tempting long ball meant for Pellé, but a quick turnover lent the striker space to pull the trigger.
His shot appeared covered by the American keeper until it caromed off of Spector's back, and the forlorn goalie could only crane his head and watch the ball cradle into the opposite side of his net.
It was their first goal allowed during the 2005 edition if the junior World Cup, but sadly, they never really recovered.
Wynne and Westberg showed some spirit to close down more Canini danger from a set piece.
Feilhaber then was fouled on a nifty cut-in from the left, but as it occurred all tournament long, the set piece came to nothing.
The Azzurri stepped up their mind warfare, with stray elbows now leading to finger wagging taunts – although apparently not enough to bother Fatah.
Spector and Wynne were called into duty in the 62nd minute, with Nocerino running on to an over the top Canini ball.
The initial mess was expertly cleaned up, but Spector lost possession to Galloppa after an ill-advised dribble towards midfield.
The Triestina midfielder fed Pellé on the gallop; the forward juked Wynne off his feet and buried a special winner with the outside of his left boot.
"The second goal was a mental lapse on my part," Spector told YA after the match. "I can take responsibility for that."
Despite the Manchester United defender's confession, Westberg felt the need to give Pellé his due credit.
"Obviously you have to give it up to the forward," said the keeper. "He held on to the ball, he had a great game, he had a great finish."
Schmid dipped into his bench on 65 minutes, bringing Sasha Kljestan on for Dalby.
The change momentarily rejuvenated the Americans, who were now trailing for the first time in front of their adopted supporters at Arke Stadion.
Even the Moroccan fans that were waiting for their knockout clash with Japan began banging their drums to augment cheering from the U.S. family section.
Barrett was beginning to exert his authority again, flicking on and running with power. The forward led the Americans into attack, with Gaven blasting just wide from 22 yards after some nice 'round the horn work.
The surge was short lived, however, as Nocerino answered with a rocket over the bar in the 71st minute.
The blond playmaker started to cause all kinds of trouble for the U.S. backline, and Wynne eventually got away with a strong shoulder bump on Defendi in the area.
The floodgates were only going to hold so long, and Italy grabbed a precious insurance tally in the 74th minute.
Ianni took a big ballhandling risk and was bested by Bentivoglio, who saw his laser cross turned into Westberg's cage by a sliding Kljestan.
Egypt goal hero Jacob Peterson was then brought on for Freeman, as the clock became the young Americans' sworn enemy.
Adu, Barrett and Peterson played some nice passes at the top of the Italian area, but all the U.S. could squeeze out of the threatening stance was a squandered corner kick.
With 11 minutes remaining, the Yanks started coming forward in droves; Ochoa had a well struck 20-yard try turned away by Viviano, and Ianni bounced a header over from an Adu corner serve.
Three minutes later, Barrett was tripped up on the fly about 28 yards from goal, but Adu sent his curling free kick drive wide of the near post.
The Americans kept fighting to get back in, with Peterson almost teeing up Barrett from the seat of his pants.
Vivano was then cautioned after shoving Barrett; the goalkeeper was upset that the chasers had continued an attack with Pellé on the ground.
As stoppage time began, Feilhaber wiggled into the are on the left, but Peterson took too long with a good slip pass and saw his shot blocked away.
Finally, Barrett was robbed by Viviano from point blank range after a pillowy Feilhaber chip pass – it was to be the last action of the contest as the ref whistled the Americans out of the championship bracket.
"Sometimes, it's one of those days," Schmid told reporters after the game. "I thought we had enough chances to win the game. They had chances too, and they used them."
"We had some mental errors that really hurt us in this game. Plus, we had some important players that didn’t play as well as they could of today. That combination didn’t bode well for us against a good team like Italy." |
|
|
| Register for Email Alert to receive news, interviews, and more directly to your inbox without spam. Ever. |
|
|
|
Currently visting YA: 493 
