There were 34 fouls, some of them disgraceful. There were three red cards, all of them justified, and three more yellow cards that might have turned the deeper colour. There were two goals, two memorable saves from either goalkeeper, and a match of shame petered out.
This turned into the first brutal and calculatedly ugly affair of the tournament. The Americans allowed themselves to be sucked in and within the first 47 minutes the players gave the Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda no option but to send off three players.
The spite was established as early as the fifth minute. Not for the first time Francesco Totti, the playmaker, was the man to set Italy’s sour mood. The player banned for spitting at Euro 2004 blatantly tripped Clint Dempsey and accepted the yellow card with a shrug.
Taking that cue, Eddie Pope, the aggressive American defender, was booked in the 20th minute for leaning on Alberto Gilardino. The template was set and there was little by way of flowing football on display.
The history of exchanges between Italy and the US is thin. In 1934 the Italians thrashed the Americans 7-1; in 1990 the score in Rome was just one goal to the home side. It is getting closer, but one had to ask somewhat desperately if this performance from either side last night was anything to show the millions of schoolchildren whose moms take them with religious fervour to play the game that they consider safest. What am I referring to? Read on. Italy stole the lead in the 22nd minute, when Cristian Zaccardo dinked in a free kick at which Gilardino was left unmarked to stoop and score with a header.
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This was kindergarten defending, but within minutes Zaccardo equalised. When Claudio Reyna took another free kick, there was the Italian defender mistiming his intended clearance and steering the ball over his own goalline.
Goals are no threat to the game. However, thuggery is, and it began in the 28th minute when Daniele De Rossi intentionally thrust his right elbow into the face of Brian McBride. The blow caused a mask of blood to ooze from the cheekbone just below McBride’s left eye, and crimson was the inevitable card from the referee. Not content with his villainy, De Rossi stood, arms outstretched, shoulders hunched, effectively saying it was an accident and the punishment an injustice.
The advantage, it seemed, was now with the Americans. Marcello Lippi, the Italy coach, withdrew Totti and put on the rather more fearsome Gennaro Gattuso. The Italians, clearly, were not about to go soft.
And neither were the Americans. Pablo Mastroeni lunged into a two-footed tackle on the shin of Andrea Pirlo — so late and so vicious, it was a wonder there was no breaking of bone — and was dismissed.
That, mercifully, brought half-time in the confrontation. Why had this match turned into such an atrocity, given that every team in the tournament was given a clear warning about Fifa’s intentions and given that other countries had all appeared to be putting the good of the game to the fore? Within two minutes of the second half, Pope launched a reckless tackle from behind on Gilardino. What could he expect but another yellow card, the clear diktat before this tournament began? He, too, went off shaking his head, and once again the US coach Bruce Arena was gesticulating from the touchline, his arms turning like a windmill, his face contorted in dissent. All the red cards mean that the players are banned from the next match, for some of them probably the end of their tournament. We shall not miss them.
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The brutishness surely had to subside, somebody had to remember that this is supposed to be just a game? It did for a while and after 66 minutes one of the American substitutes, DaMarcus Beasley, thought he had won the night. His shot was hard and true and it beat goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon along the ground. But yet another correct decision by the referee, who indicated that McBride was two yards offside.
That effort provoked some real football from the Italians. Substitute Alessandro Del Piero embarrassed Jim Conrad on the edge of the area, glided forward and slipped the ball to Vincenzo Iaquinta, who groped like a tired man and failed to control the ball. There was one more piece of authentic sport. Del Piero was the architect, but his shot produced a wonderful one-handed save, acrobatic in the extreme, from Kasey Keller.
The match was to finish with just nine men on either side. Simone Perrotta was stretchered off after being caught by the boot of Carlos Bocanegra, and there were no substitutes left to take the field. Ugliness had finished the contest that neither side deserved to win.