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.