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Coach warns Italian stars
18/06/2006: Italy coach Marcello Lippi wants his players to use the frustration from their 1-1 draw with USA to get their World Cup bid on track.
The Italians looked to be on their way to the three points which would almost certainly have put them into the knockout stage of the tournament when AC Milan hitman Alberto Gilardino headed them in front after 21 minutes.
However the United States, who had started the game well, hit back to level through a bizarre own goal from Cristian Zaccardo before Daniele De Rossi's blatant elbow in the face of US striker Brian McBride left Italy facing a potential shock defeat.
Pablo Mastroeni handed the referee the perfect chance to level things up with a sliding two-footed tackle which earned him a red card, before defender Eddie Pope picked up a second yellow card in the first minute of the second half to see red and leave the States down to nine men.
Despite having a man advantage for 44 minutes, Italy failed to capitalise in a disappointing display and Lippi was left to warn his stars they will need to play a lot better if they are going to do anything in Germany.
He said: "We didn't play our best game. It was simply not our night.
"But it's not a negative result. I am happy that today our World Cup starts because this is a wake-up call for us. From now on is simply a case of being in or out."
Lippi also confirmed De Rossi faced his wrath for his moment of madness which could have cost them a lot more than it ultimately did.
He added: "My players got nervous and they made very serious mistakes, like that of De Rossi. That was a very serious error and we paid the consequences."
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