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After a dramatic match in which the USA snatched a 1-1 draw against Italy, the coaches' moods were different. Bruce Arena did not hide his praise for his players, while Italian coach Marcelo Lippi admitted that his team did not play well.
"The team played fantastically today, considering the circumstances of playing with nine against ten," said USA national team coach B. Arena. "Many teams would have used that as an excuse, but my guys fought with all their hearts."
"Goalkeeper Kasey Keller was the hero of the match, saving several very dangerous shots. Bobby Convey also played excellently, both matches were good by Claudio Reyna, Landon Donovan. From the first bad match with the Czech Republic, we made great progress and now I truly know that we have many fantastic players."
The 54-year-old coach did not criticize the referees and spoke briefly about the dismissals: "This is the first time in my career that two of my national team players have been sent off, but I don't want to comment on the referees' work until I see the video footage. But the elbow strike by an Italian to Brian McBride's face was truly cruel."
"I disagree that Pablo Mastroeni should have been sent off the field, but I am satisfied with the result," also said defender Eddie Pope, who left the field due to a red card. "In the last match, we will play with hope of reaching the quarterfinals, and before these matches, it seemed like a difficult goal to achieve."
"We fought in this match, but we certainly did not play as well as we did against Ghana," M. Lippi insisted. "I suspect we did not fully recover from those matches. I had a feeling that my biggest fears would come true.
"As often happens, we were poorly prepared psychologically for this match. We were nervous and it showed in our performance. We made a lot of mistakes, we couldn't control the ball for long. Cristiano Zaccardo was unlucky when he sent the ball into his own goal and leveled the score, but later we failed to take advantage of the numerical superiority."
"Am I angry with Daniele De Rossi? The defender made a big mistake and we will discuss it within the team. I don't want to talk about it publicly. He will have to pay for this mistake as he will miss the next match due to disqualification," said the coach.
"I am disappointed because we did not play as well as against Ghana," said defender Simone Perrotta. "Even worse - I suffered an injury, and my form was good. I hurt my back a little, we'll see what the situation will be like tomorrow."
