GENOA, Italy — Jurgen Klinsmann celebrated his first ever win over Italy as the German's United States team inflicted a well deserved and memorable 1-0 defeat of the 2006 World Cup winners in an international friendly here on Wednesday.
Fulham striker Clint Dempsey's second half goal gave the United States their fourth successive victory while Italy suffered a second straight loss at home.
For Klinsmann this was a sweet result after his Germany side had come off second best to Italy in the 2006 World Cup semi-finals.
Italy's Sebastian Giovinco produced the hosts' first real chance when his effort forced US keeper Tim Howard into action.
Then the Italians had the ball in the back of the net on 25 minutes only for Alessandro Matri's shot to be ruled offside by Turkish referee Firat Aydinus.
On 37 minutes Italy captain and keeper Gianluigi Buffon - one of the few survivors of the 2006 semi-final win - could only palm away United States veteran Dempsey's stinging shot.
Thiago Motta saw his threatening half volley gratefully scooped up by Howard two minutes from the interval.
The sides went into the break after a first period in which the Italians were unable to capitalise on their superior possession against a committed US side.
On 55 minutes the deadlock was broken when against the run of play Jozy Altidore did well to set up Dempsey whose left-footed drive left Buffon with no chance at all.
Michael Bradley, son of Klinsmann's predecessor in the US hotseat, Bob Bradley, and the only Italy-based player in the visitors side was one of the stars for the United States and only his timely tackle stopped the lively Giovinco in his tracks.
The Italians were having difficulty breaking through the stout US defence led by skipper Carlos Bocanegra and Bundesliga-based Steve Cherundolo, and despite late pressure the US held on for a memorable win.
The loss will have given Italy coach Cesare Prandelli plenty of food for thought as he desperately searches for a strikeforce he can deploy ahead of the Euro 2012 finals in June.
Having successfully got them to the finals and rebuilt some of the damage done to their image after they became the first defending champions to exit at the first hurdle in the 2010 World Cup Prandelli has lost his three leading strikers.
Antonio Cassano is out because of a heart problem, while Giuseppe Rossi too is recovering after suffering a serious injury at the end of October and Cassano's replacement, Manchester City badboy Mario Balotelli, was dropped for his on the field behaviour.
