Pierluigi Casiraghi, who scored twice in Italy's opening game, missed an easy chance in the waning moments Friday as Italy lost to the Czech Republic 2-1 in the first big upset of the European Championship.
Also Friday, Turkey became the second team eliminated from the tournament when Portugal won 1-0. And, Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids was kicked off the team for criticizing coach Guus Hiddink after not starting in the team's 2-0 victory Thursday over Switzerland.At Anfield, the Italians were reduced to 10 men when defender Luigi Apolloni was ejected for receiving a second yellow card with the score tied 1-1.
With the game deep into injury time, Gianfranco Zola lobbed a pass over the Czech defense and Casiraghi was perfectly positioned with only the goalkeeper to beat. He shot into the crowd and Italian players across the field flung themselves to the ground in disbelief.
The result means the Czechs (1-1-0), who faced elimination after also losing to the Germans, now are back in contention for the quarterfinal and the Italians (1-1-0) need a good result against Germany (1-0-0) on Wednesday to get there.
Apolloni's ejection in the 29th minute came six minutes before Radek Bejbl volleyed what proved to be the winner. Earlier, Pavel Nedved gave the Czechs the lead in the fourth minute and Enrico Chiesa leveled after 17 for Italy.
At Nottingham Forest's City Ground, Fernando Couto, a Portuguese defender who plays in Italy for Parma, scored against Turkey (0-2-0) with a left-foot volley from just inside the box after strikers Joao Pinto and Ricardo Sa Pinto missed far easier chances.
Portugal (1-0-1) jumped above Croatia (1-0-0) in the standings. Defending titlist Denmark (0-0-1) faces Croatia on Sunday.
Davids, angered at not starting against Switzerland, was thrown off the squad after an argument with Hiddink. He did enter the game as a substitute.
"He was sent home Friday evening after very personal criticism of the coach," said Dutch team spokesman Rob de Leede.
"I reacted too emotionally," Davids told Dutch journalists before being told of the bad news.
The Ajax midfielder, soon to join Italian soccer giant AC Milan, declined comment after hearing he was off the team altogether and flew home.