That's exactly what happened in the 69th minute, when Italy's usually gentlemanly defender Riccardo Ferri hit Bruce Murray with an vicious elbow. On the resulting kick, Tab Ramos faked the shot, then Murray unleashed a strong, swooping kick that cleared the Italian defensive wall.

Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga dove and deflected the shot back out into the penalty area, and U.S. forward Peter Vermes blasted a low drive toward the center of the net. But Zenga, who had expected a high shot, showed a world-class goalkeeper's reflexes by reversing his jump into a squat and deflecting with the edge of his left buttock what would have been a sure goal. The ball dribbled across the goal mouth and as 70,000 hearts stopped, Ferri frantically cleared it.

"If Zenga's legs had been a little thinner, that would have been a goal," Vermes said. "I could have aimed the shot, but in those situations, it's best to just blast the ball as strongly as possible."

Except for the small pocket of American fans — who waved the few red-white- and blue flags more and more proudly as the U.S. kept the game close — the silence was deafening. Soon, the Italians started hear whistles (which they use instead of the boos favored by American fans) from their own fans. The U.S. defended capably the rest of the game, and Italy was thankful to walk away with a 1-0 win and avoid an embarrassing draw.

In the runway outside the locker rooms, the U.S. players exulted. "Coming into this game, nobody gave us a chance," backup goalkeeper David Vanole said. "Everyone, especially the Italian press, will have to eat their words now."

A few Italian players came out and tried to offer some kind of explanation. "What can I tell you? it certainly beats losing 1-0," Donodoni said. "They backpassed the whole game, and when a team does that, it's hard to get any kind of offense going."

Buoyed by their showing in Italy, many of the same players were on the field when the U.S. pulled off a 2-1 upset of Colombia in the 1994 World Cup. And to those who have followed the American team's sometimes painful growth through the last two decades, that night in Rome will always represent the U.S. team's coming of age on the international soccer scene.

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Donovan delivers

Landon Donovan returned to the U.S. national team following an eight-month absence and scored his first international hat trick in five years, leading the Americans over Scotland 5-1 in a friendly Saturday night.

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Highlights: Donovan leads US in rout

  Landon Donovan's hat trick helps the U.S. to a convincing 5-1 win over Scotland.

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