World Cup Day 9 - Group E gets interesting

Due to cricket commitments during the day (a duck and no wickets - great day) and then going to see one of the worst movies I've ever seen, I didn't get to see any of Saturday's action apart from the first half-hour of the Italy v USA match-up.

With the Czechs surprisingly losing to Ghana earlier in the day, it gave Italy a great opportunity to seal the group ahead of their game against the Czechs later this week. However - and despite taking the lead, the Italians failed to take the opportunity and saw de Rossi sent off for an elbow on McBride.

The group is now nicely poised going into the last games with all sides still in with a shout of qualifying from this group.

Standings:

Italy 4pts +2gd
Czech Republic 3pts +2gd
Ghana 3pts -1gd
USA 1pt -3gd