The Americans will now meet Montenegro who claimed an 8-4 victory over Greece to move one win away from adding to the titles they won in 2009 and 2018.

Italy’s hopes of beating the US suffered a huge setback when Matteo Aicardi was shown a red card for allegedly punching an opponent in the third quarter.

Hannes Daube converted the resulting penalty to make it 7-7 as Italy were forced to play the next four minutes with a man down.

That period proved to be crucial as the US scored two more goals through Max Irving and Daube before Aicardi’s replacement entered the pool.

Pietro Figlioli cut the deficit for Italy only for Marko Vavic to score the decisive goal with three minutes remaining.

US head coach Dejan Udovicic said: "I’m proud of my guys, the way they played, and the energy was insane, if I can say that?

"This is what I want from my team every game.

"We have a very young team."

Greece led Montenegro three times in the first half thanks to goals form Marios Kapotsis, Georgios Dervisis and Konstantinos Genidounias.

But the two-time winners found an extra gear in the third period as Miroslav Perkovic, Dusan Matkovic, Vladan Spaic and Aleksa Ukropina struck to turn the tide.

Aleksandar Ivovic and Dusan Banicevic also got on the scoresheet to give Montenegro an unassailable 8-3 lead before Konstantinos Gkiovetsis netted a late consolation.

"For us it was a big game and we played very good defence the whole match and deserved the win," said Montenegro star Drasko Brguljan.

"We came here to play big matches."

Tomorrow will see Greece and Italy battle it out for bronze before Montenegro and US face off in the final.