Rossi inspires Italian victory

SUBSTITUTE Giuseppe Rossi scored a brace to help Italy mount a second-half recovery against 10-man United States and claim victory in their Confederations Cup debut in Pretoria last night.

The world champions, who top Ireland’s World Cup qualifying group, were trailing 1-0 at the break after Landon Donovan fired his side ahead from the penalty spot, despite the earlier dismissal of Ricardo Clark, who was given a straight red card for a foul on Gennaro Gattuso.

But the introduction of Rossi just before the hour turned the game.

It proved a masterstroke as the Villarreal striker scored with his first touch when he won the ball and from 30 yards blasted past Tim Howard, who seemed to be off his line.

Soon after, the Everton goalkeeper failed to deal with an Andrea Pirlo shot which was palmed into the path of Vincenzo Iaquinta, only for the final shot from the Juventus striker to sail over.

Daniele De Rossi put his side ahead in the 72nd minute with an ambitious 30-yard shot from the left, which defender Oguchi Onyewu tried to clear but missed – an error which fooled Howard too.

Italy then showed their class at the death as Rossi finished from close-range after Pirlo sublimely glided down the left and delivered a perfect cross for the striker to wrap up all three points as the Azzurri moved joint top of Group B alongside Brazil.

Brazil 4 Egypt 3

BRAZIL had to rely on a 90th-minute Kaka penalty to overcome plucky Egypt 4-3 and claim a barely-deserved win in Bloemfontein yesterday.

They looked to be on their way to an easy win in Group B after first-half goals from Kaka, Luis Fabiano and Juan opened up a 3-1 lead at the break, Borussia Dortmund striker Mohamed Zidan scoring the Pharaohs’ goal.

But a fragile first-half defensive performance meant the Selecao never fully looked in control of the contest and two goals in as many minutes soon after the restart, from Mohamed Shawky and first-half scorer Mohamed Zidan, had the Africans dreaming of a memorable win.

Those hopes were dashed a minute from time, however, when Ahmed Al Muhamadi handled a Lucio shot on the line and was given his marching orders. Real Madrid’s recent-signing Kaka, who had been a largely peripheral figure during the game, then stepped up to coolly convert the spot-kick and deny Egypt a point.