| POS. |
TEAM |
PTS |
GP |
W |
D |
L |
GD |
GF |
GA |
| 1. |
Italy |
6 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
9 |
4 |
| 2. |
Uruguay |
6 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
-2 |
4 |
6 |
| 3. |
Spain |
4 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
9 |
5 |
| 4. |
Argentina |
4 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
6 |
| 5. |
United States |
4 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
5 |
| 6. |
Aladi |
1 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
-7 |
5 |
12 |
|
Last Saturday, for USA the odds were all
in favor of their opponent, one of the more powerful teams
of the tournament. Italy had easily won its previous two
matches, beating Argentina 4 - 2, and Uruguay 4 - nil. USA,
on the other hand, had come off with a loss against Uruguay
(0 - 1), and a draw against Aladi (3 - 3).
Italy was quick to score first, taking advantage
of an unfortunate play by the USA defense. It did not take
long for USA to recover with an excellent goal by Marcio
Nuñez. The Italian goalie was able to maintain the
draw for the rest of the first half by frustrating several
good scoring attempts on his net.
The USA coach, Ivan, prepared some key changes
for the second half that allowed his team to take control
of the game. Marcio scored the second and winning goal from
a penalty shot after which, the Italian team saw two of
its players expelled. Italy tried in desperation to even
the score, however the excellent performances of players
such as Daniel Felipe Revelez, Gabriel Lardizabal, Mike
Dhunjishah, Horacio and Ivan in goal, and the tremendous
efforts of the midfielders who ran constantly under 35°
weather, prevented the Italians from scoring.
This result gives USA a total of 4 points
so far in the tournament, 2 away from the front-runners
Italy and Uruguay.
Next game will be against Argentina
on Thursday at 8 pm, at the Liga Universitaria (Turisferia).
Left: Lardizabal and
Nuñez. Right: USA team celebrates
