Italy vs. USA: Americans More Lucky Than Talented in 1-0 Win

When the United States defeated Italy in Genoa on Wednesday night, it was quickly marked as one of the most significant victories in American history. Heck, even Bleacher Report's World Football editor Will Tidey tweeted it was on par with victories by the Yanks in the 2002 World Cup and the 1950 "Miracle On Grass" over England.

However—and I hate to be a wet blanket—there was far more luck than skill involved in the United States blanking Italy.

That's not to say the United States didn't show a certain level of class and talent.

I can't remember our defensive back line playing as well as they did late in the match. Somehow goalkeeper Tim Howard switched into a higher gear, making world-class saves and leading his back line like a grizzled field general.

But Lady Luck was ever-present whenever and wherever the Americans needed her.

For one, the United States could not string together an attack to save their lives. It only had two shots on goal on the night with many scoring opportunities for the Americans ending up as nothing more than an exercise in intercepting or dispossessing the ball by the Italians. 

The score from Clint Dempsey was less a result of a great shot and more a result of Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon taking a coin flip's chance of where Dempsey would shoot it, cheating to the left and losing his gamble.

Also, I know that several of Italy's offsides calls were good and fair, but there were several times Sebastian Giovinco took passes from the midfield, had placed himself perfectly square with American defenders and was called offside.

Italy had over a dozen serious scoring chances and while some were thwarted by the seemingly impenetrable Howard, most of them were stopped in their tracks by a team of officials who chose playing it safe over risking awarding a goal that should never have been. 

I can hardly blame them as unfair goals—whether they be allowances or dismissals—has been a hot button issue with fans on both the club and international level. But the conservatism the referees displayed last night made Reaganomics look progressive.

"Beating Italy feels pretty damn good," tweeted Bleacher Report's Lead Writer Dan Levy shortly after the match.

Levy's right. It does feel good to come out on top against Italy, the eighth-best soccer country in the world—according to the latest FIFA rankings. But the United States, as number 31 in the world, has a long way to go.

Can the Americans get there? Absolutely.

The United States is one of the richest, most populated countries in the world. We have the facilities, we have the resources and we have a new manager in Jurgen Klinsmann who is putting a priority on our youth development system and is willing to do what it will take to get this country in the same conversation as Germany, Spain and even Italy.

But the United States is currently at a place where they're good enough to take advantage of when an elite team has an off-night. That's better than where we were this summer in the Gold Cup final when we were up 2-0 on Mexico and then let El Tri score four unanswered goals. Ugh.

The marked improvement is what we should be celebrating—not the 1-0 win over Italy.