The Official Site of Landon Donovan

Tue, Jun 16th 2009, 11:35

Landon's goal doesnt stand up as US falls to Italy

The U.S. Men’s National Team fell 3-1 to defending world champion Italy to open the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.

After going down a man when Ricardo Clark was shown a 33rd minute red card, the U.S. bounced back to take a 1-0 lead before halftime on a Landon Donovan penalty kick. In the second half, though, Italy took advantage of the additional space, scoring on two long-range efforts in the 58th and 72nd minutes before adding an insurance goal in stoppage time.

“It’s disappointing.” U.S. head coach Bob Bradley said. “To play against a team like Italy and be down a man takes extra strong efforts on a lot of parts, and I thought that part was good. After their goal, I thought we did a very good job for a period of time of still being organized and finding some opportunities going forward. At the end, we are taking more chances because we are still trying to find a way to get the equalizer. Unfortunately we couldn’t do better with a few long range shots and corners in that period of time. They did well to finish the game. It’s only the first game of the group, and now we move on.”

After one day of group play, the U.S. sits in last place in Group B on goal differential following Brazil’s 4-3 victory against Egypt. Up next the U.S. faces group-leader Brazil on Wednesday, June 18, at 9:55 a.m. ET live on ESPN2 and Telefutura. Fans can also follow live via ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker and at twitter.com/ussoccer.

The U.S. is now 1-3-0 in Confederations Cup openers, and 0-4-3 overall against the Italians. The multi-goal loss was the first by the U.S. to Italy since the 1934 FIFA World Cup when Italy won 7-1 in Rome.

In the first 15 minutes, the teams traded shots as Clint Dempsey blasted a free kick high from 30 yards out after Jozy Altidore drew a foul and later Alberto Gilardino hit a shot right down the middle into the arms of Tim Howard.

In the 20th minute, Italy had an early chance to score. After Jonathan Bornstein earned a yellow card for pulling down Mauro Camoranesi, Andrea Pirlo curved the free kick to the top of the six yard box where Nicola Legrottaglie beat Jonathan Spector but hit a diving header wide right.

Minutes later, the U.S. had a dangerous chance after Michael Bradley won a tackle and played the ball to Donovan to start a U.S. breakout. With Altidore drawing defenders, Donovan slotted a pass into the 18-yard box for Bradley, but he stumbled and couldn’t hit a clean shot with his left. Likewise, Donovan was the catalyst again in the 30th minute as he dribbled straight at the Italian defense drawing four defenders. He played Altidore through in nearly the same spot that Bradley was, but Altidore’s misguided return pass was easily intercepted.

In the 33rd minute, the match reached an early turning point similar to the last meeting between these teams at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, when a first-half red card to a U.S. midfielder left the U.S. shorthanded against the Azzurri.

Just moments after the red card, it appeared as though Italy would take an immediate lead as Jonathan Bornstein slid and put a through ball intended for Camoranesi into the back of his own goal, but the linesman correctly flagged the play for offside.

Six minutes later, however, the U.S. luck would change for the better. Benny Feilhaber, who moved from right midfield to occupy Clark’s space in the left central midfield position, played a long diagonal ball to Altidore who got position inside on Giorgio Chiellini dribbling into the right side of the penalty area. As Altidore cut back, he was cut down by the Italian central defender setting up a penalty chance.

Donovan, wearing the captain’s armband with Carlos Bocanegra out with a hamstring strain, stepped up and hit a low shot inside Gianluigi Buffon’s left post as the Italian goalkeeper dove right. The goal by Donovan was the 40th of his career, and he has now scored from the penalty spot in three consecutive matches.

A blast from outside the area by Michael Bradley was saved by Buffon in the 42nd minute, and the U.S. went into halftime holding a 1-0 lead.

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