After a scoreless first half, the Rossoneri dominated the run of play for much of the second half, but couldn’t capitalize on their chances.  Tottenham, on the other hand, made the most of their chance when Peter Crouch slid home a pass from teammate Aaron Lennon to put the Spurs up 1-0 in the 80th minute.  They would hold on from there for the crucial away victory.

With nothing working on offense, frustrations began to boil over for the Italian club.  It all started in the 58th minute, when Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso came face-to-face with Tottenham coach Joe Jordan before pushing him away with a shot to the neck.  At the conclusion of the game, the two would exchange words for a second time before Gattuso initiated contact once again, this time with a headbutt.  The man that some refer to as “the Italian pitbull” had to be restrained immediately before things escalated.

Gattuso will not be in the line-up when these two teams meet for the second leg at White Hart Lane in three weeks time, but we still expect it to be quite the interesting contest.  Here is a look at both incidents from today’s game.

Total Pro Sports – The Azzuri flashed something in their Confederations Cup match today against Egypt, but unfortunately it wasn’t brilliance.  Instead, it was Gattuso’s ass that they were showcasing.  That would explain why they lost the game 1-0 to the African nation.

During the first half, Italian midfielder Gennaro Gattuso was racing for a loose ball when he was tripped up by Abo Terika.  As he went to the ground, his shorts fell to his knees showing both the crowd and viewers at home his tighty-whities.  Video replays show the incident in slow motion for those who didn’t catch it.  Guess they figured if they had to see such a thing, then everyone else should as well.

Its nice to see that slide tackles don’t always have to end up in broken legs, or Oscar-worthy dives.

Egypt has now completed two games, beating the defending World Cup Champions in this one and losing a heart-breaker in the dying minutes to Brazil.  With only the USA left to play, the opportunity is surely there for Egypt to pull off the shocker and advance to the next round.  Whether or not they can make the best of it remains to be seen.

One thing I can assure you is that no one had Andressa Soares or the Panama cricket ladies on their mind when they saw Gattuso’s rear.  Who knows.  Maybe this will get him a shot at a hot WAG like Luana Belletti.

Rossi would be substituted into the game for Gennaro Gattuso at the 57th minute of the second half and took just 50 seconds to make his mark on the game.  Stealing the ball from Clint Dempsey at midfield, he would head towards the US goal, and fire a shot from 30 yards out which found the top corner.  That goal would tie the game and the Italians would add another before Rossi sealed the deal with his second of the night in extra time to make the final 3-1.  Rossi’s performance was just what Italy needed to spark their offence, overcoming a scare from the Americans and earning himself “The Stat Line Of The Night” for Monday June 15th, 2009.

The Italians now sit at 1-0 in the tournament, tied atop the division with Brazil, who narrowly avoided a huge upset at the hands of Egypt.  Rossi is one of the few players on the Italian team playing outside Serie A, but this Villareal product showed a flare last night that will surely have caught the attention of coach Marcello Lippi.