USA Stops Spain in its Tracks; Looks to Final
Posted by Steve Fales | Posted in World Soccer | Posted: June 24, 2009 at 5:53 pm
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Wow. If you missed the United States’ 2-0 victory over Spain, I’m sorry. Even the most cynical of the soccer ambivalent would have found the American effort in South Africa, on Wednesday night, heroic. The two goal victory saw Spain, the top-ranked nation in the world, lose for the first time in 35 games, dating back to November 2006. Those 35 games equaled an international record, one that was originally held by Brazil from the mid 90s. Not only did this loss mean that Spain would not become the lone-record holders, but it also prevented Spain from extending their world-record run of 16 straight victories. Don’t think that the 2-0 outcome was necessarily an indication of any American dominance. Simply put, the USA never made a mistake and never let up.
In the first half, the US, who had less time off between matches than the Spanish, came out energized and focused on paying attention to all of Spain’s superstars. Fernando Torres, David Villa and Cesc Fabregas all looked out of ideas from the beginning, because of constant American pressure. After a slew of attacking creativity and positive passing, 19 year-old striker, Jozy Altidore, found himself one-on-one with the Spanish keeper. He coolly slotted it past the goalie, and the US found itself 1-0 up after just 27 minutes. Throughout the first half, the Americans were first to every ball, and the much overlooked American midfield were just stronger than their counterparts. The United States were actually a better team than the European Champions for the first 45 minutes. The second half was what astonished me, though…
At this point, I still felt a Spanish goal would open up the American defense and ultimately lead to a comfortable victory. I didn’t give them enough credit. Oguchi Onyewu and Jay DeMerit were flawless in their central-defense roles. In spite of this, the Spanish onslaught continued for 30 minutes. From the 50th minute on, the United States were parked in front of their own goal, dealing with every cross and through-ball as it came. It is always troubling when a team settles on a one-goal lead and parks up in front of goal, it always seems ominous that they are sealing their own fate to play for the final whistle, not for the extension of their lead. Then, in
the 73rd minute, a Jonathan Spector throw-in saw a move develop wherein Landon Donovan found himself alone wide on the right, he settled for a slide back, when he easily could have shot, then after a mistake from right-back Sergio Ramos, Clint Dempsey fired it home. Going 2-0 up with 17 minutes left, was a little too much for Spain to overcome. Had the Americans not scored, would Spain have equalized? I believe so. But giving up a goal after implementing so much pressure, must have been hard to swallow.
Now the USA have sauntered into the Confederations Cup Final, with the second semi-final to be played tomorrow between Brazil and South Africa. Assuming Brazil dispatches the African host nation, the US will have a chance to avenge their 3-0 defeat to the mighty yellows in the group stage. America could pull it off. When it comes to momentum, they’ve got it all. I’ll be happy to see Spain playing in the embarassingly irrelevant 3rd place game; along with the rest of the world witnessing the United States defeating a team that no one in Europe could just last summer. The World Cup beckons…
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Nice article. Given the surreality of beating Spain, I can understand the feeling of, “if we can do that, we can do anything.” Do I think we’re going to trounce Brazil? No. But if we put in a game against Brazil like we did against Spain, it’ll be a game to remember. Who knows, it might even be a victory. Now that would be something for the fans to really smile about.
Great article.
Well done mate.
Putting side Spain’s streak over the last few years, the USA’s performance in this tournament isn’t as surprising as many people have thought. Look at how lopsided the two groups were:
USA (ranked 14th in the world) was in the group of death with Brazil (5th), Italy (4th), and Egypt (40th). But Spain (ranked 1st in the world) had to play South Africa (72nd), Iraq (77th), and New Zealand (82nd).
It’s no wonder that Spain cruised through the group stage of this tournament and the USA seemed to have struggled. But if you look at the Italy game, the USA was up 1-0 before having a player sent off, and then the 3-1 score flattered the Italians. The 3-0 loss to Brazil was the American’s worst game of the tournament, but they’ll most likely have another crack at them in the final. Hopefully, they will be able to keep all 11 men on the field for an entire game and put on a better show.