U21 Euro 2007: Rossi expects Italy to bounce back

Giuseppe Rossi expects England to put their "heart and soul" into tonight's match against Italy, but promised the Azzurrini "will be no less competitive" as they look to steal a march on their Group B rivals with a victory in Arnhem.

Born in New Jersey before moving to Italy as a child, Rossi is familiar with both camps having been tempted to Manchester United from Parma in 2004. He impressed during a spell back on loan with the Gialloblu this season, yet was keen to put speculation surrounding his future on hold in the wake of Monday's opening defeat by Serbia.

"My first thought is to do well in this championship here," he said. "Things didn't go as planned against Serbia; we were a bit unlucky. That's how football goes. You could be playing the best game of your life and then you can concede a goal in the last second of the match. That's the beauty of football."

Rossi played for just 16 minutes in Nijmegen as a replacement for Raffaele Palladino, and found it difficult to adjust to the pace of the match as Italy pressed in search of an equaliser following Dejan Milovanovic's 63rd-minute goal.

"It's kind of difficult when you go 1-0 down trying to recover the result but we were all trying to get a goal and it was just a bit unfortunate in the last couple of minutes when we missed a chance or two but that's how it goes," he said. "Now we have to try and gather all our energy and strengths and try to go into the England game trying to get three points.

"England are a good football team of course and they put their heart and soul into every match but we are not going to be any less competitive than them. We'll have to go out, play our usual game and try to get a good result," continued Rossi, who could face United colleague Kieran Richardson or former Newcastle United team-mates Steven Taylor and James Milner if selected tonight.

"I spent two and a half years playing in England and left many friends. There'll be no friends during this game but after the 90 minutes we'll be by the changing rooms talking and having a laugh."

Who will be laughing loudest remains to be seen.

[U21 Euro 2007 Championship Finals Schedule]