Shocker: U.S. Beats Spain To Reach Confed Final

2009-06-25T15:00:51-04:00

2009-06-24T16:28:51-04:00

326

2009-06-24T16:28:51-04:00

2009-06-25T15:00:51-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/448/97/thumb/P1070540.jpg 63 FL

cerati9

Hialeah 45137

327 I'm still on a major high. All I wanted from the team this tourney was to show heart and effort and they really failed us the first 2 games. The last 2 games have been sensational. What a day it was, getting a call from the boss saying that the office was shut down because of a loss of electrical power and not to go to work, getting to watch the game in full HD, enjoying a great match. Observations: 1. Please play Davies more often. The kid ran fearlessly at defenders, made things difficult and put in a great display and tried to create something. He ran into space and ran onto the ball, 2 games and I'm starting to like this kid. 2. Landon Donovan when he plugs in, plays a great game. He was on last night and he lifts the team, he was all over the field, played a smart game, this is how he should play every match. I feel that sometimes his head is just not in the game and tends to disappear. 3. Timmy!!! The game that we had been wanting from Tim Howard, his signature victory, hopefully he can top that on Sunday. An absolute beast, played confident, solid hands, etc. He needs to be consistent like this. 4. Michael Bradley, the kid can play, he needs more time to up his game but he's showing heart. The red card, was absolute b.s. Everyone knows that, it worries me that refs have given our side 3 reds in 4 matches, conspiracy theory anybody? 5. Please don't ever bring Conor Casey on, he's just a sack of potatoes, doesn't run, no visible effort, no charging at defenders, nothing. They should have brought in someone who was going to be moving around, putting pressure, opening up space for our defense getting battered by the Spanish attack. 6. Gooch and DeMerit, you might not be the most skilled of players, but the heart you put in really made me think of the old days of Marcelo and Lalas. Talk about throwing your body all over the place, pure effort. 7. It's good to see Bocanegra playing where he should play, just a sense of confidence when he's in the lineup. 8. Please let's see more of Torres and Adu, I thought Bradley waited a little bit too long to make a sub, the lads were tired, it was on their faces. 9. Jozy needs to just turn and shoot more often, don't be so damn tentative, just shoot, we need to get more shots on goal, create some rebounds, I always feel that we don't take enough shots on goal. 10. We won, we're in a final, I'm happy. Hell, if we can pull off another upset on Sunday, I might need an ambulance. I just want them to keep showing heart, but a nice gold medal would do nicely around their necks. Bring the cup home boys!!! 5876574

2009-06-25T11:57:16-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/212/18/thumb/snarl.jpg 280 MN

Wytefang

Minneapolis 21258

325 Gotta love some of the sour-grapes, ignore reality remarks by a few of the Spanish players - notably Puyol and Casillas. Babies. To quote them: "They didn't have so many chances,'' said center back Carles Puyol I guess he missed the first 15-minutes when we were attacking all over the place and they looked like they were in a daze. Another quote: "They came out very aggressively and only had two or three chances on goal and scored both," said Puyol Again, I call BS - we had a ton of opportunities if you watch the replay of the game. Another quote, this time from GK Casillas: "Those two absurd, rare plays cost us the goals.'' Absurd? Rare plays? We worked pretty hard for those plays and honestly, if we hadn't netted those, it would have been one of the other SEVERAL clear chances we had. All I saw them doing was crossing back and forth, mostly in the air or sometimes, far more dangerously, on the ground. Talk about poor losers. In all fairness, I suppose they haven't had much practice at it. LOL 5873160

2009-06-25T14:55:08-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/414/46/thumb/30092009594.jpg 690 BR

Raven1971

Manaus 41666

Gotta love some of the sour-grapes, ignore reality remarks by a few of the Spanish players - notably Puyol and Casillas. Babies. To quote them: "They didn't have so many chances,'' said center back Carles PuyolI guess he missed the first 15-minutes when we were attacking all over the place and they looked like they were in a daze.Another quote: "They came out very aggressively and only had two or three chances on goal and scored both," said PuyolAgain, I call BS - we had a ton of opportunities if you watch the replay of the game.Another quote, this time from GK Casillas: "Those two absurd, rare plays cost us the goals.''Absurd? Rare plays? We worked pretty hard for those plays and honestly, if we hadn't netted those, it would have been one of the other SEVERAL clear chances we had. All I saw them doing was crossing back and forth, mostly in the air or sometimes, far more dangerously, on the ground.Talk about poor losers. In all fairness, I suppose they haven't had much practice at it. LOL

326 Puyol whined the same way after Barcelona lost to my SC Internacional in the FIFA Club World Cup in '06. Of course, he has to say things like that - admit that he mucked up, and he runs the risk of others realizing he can be beat, especially one-on-one. That, and with his hair in his face all the time, he probably couldn't see the match to begin with. 5876615

2009-06-25T11:57:16-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/212/18/thumb/snarl.jpg 280 MN

Wytefang

Minneapolis 21258

2009-06-24T22:45:22-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/447/147/thumb/Magico_2.jpg 360 NJ

fgavidia

Nutley 447587

What are everyone's opinions on who will start at midfield in place of Bradley. Please tell me it won't be Sacha Kjlestan!

308 Torres.....Please Mr BB, don't put in Beasley!.....I plead! 5866216

2009-06-25T11:44:17-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/531/098/thumb/Fire.jpg 534 IL

rhussmann

Chicago 531538

Torres.....Please Mr BB, don't put in Beasley!.....I plead!

324 I second Torres in replace of M Bradley. He controls the ball well. Otherwise, do we dare say Feilhaber as a center mid for Sunday? 5872868

2009-06-25T07:54:16-04:00

Francesc

Barcelona, Spain 797968

323 My sincere congratulations, a deserved win by all means. Hats off to the USA team from Spain. I though that we had learned already, and painfully, about overconfidence, seems not. Now is our turn to discuss about our current coach, hee hee. 5868568

2009-06-25T02:28:47-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/622/601/thumb/ljungberg.jpg 2871 NV

The Las Vegas Genius

Las Vegas 623241

322 Czech Republic instead of Holland, my friend. And that was a brutal group. 5867989

2009-06-25T01:31:43-04:00

AURaven1995

Mc Cordsville 797963

Kind of a harsh assessment of Italy, there ;-)Three out of eight teams world class, five out of eight being dangerous sides, that's not bad for the first round. You'd be hard pressed to find a Group of Death as deadly as Brazil, USA, Egypt, Italy in the World cup.

319 Hmmm, let's see.... How about 2006: Holland, USA, Ghana, Italy ? 5867627

2009-06-25T02:28:34-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/622/601/thumb/ljungberg.jpg 2871 NV

The Las Vegas Genius

Las Vegas 623241

Hmmm, let's see.... How about 2006: Holland, USA, Ghana, Italy ?

321 Czech Republic instead of Holland, my friend. And that was a brutal group. 5867988

2009-06-25T01:45:14-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/409/161/thumb/Paris_Scenes__14_.jpg 11 VA

yoyogi

Chester 409601

320 If I had been one of the Spanish players I would have jumped at the chance to trade jerseys with Altidore. Just think how much the game used jersey of the player who scored the winning goal for one of the all-time victories by the USMNT would bring on ebay. 5867719

2009-06-24T18:01:04-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/777/450/thumb/preston.gif 221 CA

89invincible

Vallejo 778110

there were only 8 teams that played in this confederations cup...and only 3 really were world class teams...with all due respect rangersmith..

171 Kind of a harsh assessment of Italy, there ;-) Three out of eight teams world class, five out of eight being dangerous sides, that's not bad for the first round. You'd be hard pressed to find a Group of Death as deadly as Brazil, USA, Egypt, Italy in the World cup. 5863996

2009-06-25T01:31:43-04:00

AURaven1995

Mc Cordsville 797963

319 Hmmm, let's see.... How about 2006: Holland, USA, Ghana, Italy ? 5867627

2009-06-24T22:14:10-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/353/210/thumb/pato1.jpg 2494 NV

dynamo818

Las Vegas 353630

Here's the new poll on ESPN - Was the US's win over Spain a game-changing moment for soccer in the US? 57% say yes, 43% say no, with about 140,000 votes.

298 Here's a more important poll: ESPN gets Premiership TV rights and now splits La Liga games with GOL TV. They should also share Ray Hudson and ship Tommy Smyth back to Sir Alex's bullocks, who must be wondering why he let Tim Howard and Guiseppe Rossi (he's pretty good too) go off to bigger and better things. 5865977

2009-06-25T01:30:08-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/622/601/thumb/ljungberg.jpg 2871 NV

The Las Vegas Genius

Las Vegas 623241

Here's a more important poll: ESPN gets Premiership TV rights and now splits La Liga games with GOL TV. They should also share Ray Hudson and ship Tommy Smyth back to Sir Alex's bullocks, who must be wondering why he let Tim Howard and Guiseppe Rossi (he's pretty good too) go off to bigger and better things.

318 I'm pretty sure Fergie isn't sweating the decision to sell Timmy and Benedict Rossi. Winning the league three years in a row and winning The Champions League will do that. 5867588

326

<div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/2009/soccer/06/24/usa.spain.blog/clint-dempsey.jpg" alt="Double Click to select a Photo" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">Clint Dempsey (left) scored the American's second goal. AP</div> </div> BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa -- Three thoughts after the U.S.' stunning 2-0 win over Spain in the Confederations Cup semis: • The stunners keep on coming for the United States. Three nights after overcoming astronomical odds to beat Egypt 3-0 and qualify for the semifinals, the U.S. pulled off a monster upset against Spain, the world's top-ranked team. The Spaniards had won 15 straight games and gone a world-record tying 35 games without a loss. But the U.S. played with confidence from the start, stayed organized and mightily frustrated the Spanish Armada all night. Granted, it's not the World Cup, but you have to give the U.S. a ton of credit for knocking off the best team in the world in a competitive FIFA tournament. It's easily the biggest win for U.S. soccer since beating Mexico to reach the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals. Next stop for the Yanks: Sunday's final against Brazil or South Africa. • Bob Bradley had the perfect game plan. The Fire Bradley crowd might have to keep quiet for a while. The U.S. stayed compact defensively, keeping the back line narrow and deep and daring the Spaniards to send crosses into the box (which isn't their strong suit). Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark had monster games in the central midfield, covering all sorts of ground, and Jay DeMerit and Oguchi Onyewu rarely put a foot wrong in the central defense. Captain Carlos Bocanegra somehow played all 90 minutes at left back despite this being his first game of the tournament. That left it for the U.S. attackers to pick their spots, and they did: Clint Dempsey put the game away late in the second half and played his second straight Dempsey-quality game, Landon Donovan kept going forward (and frustrating the Spaniards) and Jozy Altidore broke out of his slump with a huge goal against his Spanish-league brethren. • Not having Michael Bradley on Sunday could be a killer. Bradley drew a red card late against Spain and will miss the final. That's a major blow for the Americans: Bradley has covered a ton of ground in this tournament and showed he has a future at a big club in Europe. What did you think of the U.S.' stunning upset? Check back later for postgame quotes.... UPDATE: Just a quick note on the Spanish players/jersey exchange topic. Not every single Spanish player stormed off the field without exchanging jerseys. Most of them did, something that Donovan noted after the game. I did not remove the item about the topic in this blog post--someone at SI.com did. (If I had done it myself, there would have been a line put through it, but it would have remained in the post.) Also, if you wonder why I only put "three thoughts" in the original postgame posts, it's because I have to post it by the final whistle, then hustle to the postgame interviews. After the postgame interviews, I'll write another (more detailed) piece, which is the one that has since been added to the blog. Thanks for reading. Grant Wahl's new book, The Beckham Experiment, comes out on July 14. You can pre-order it <a href="http://tinyurl.com/layry6" target="_blank">here</a>. You can also find him now on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/GrantWahl" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. 68581 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/194/315/thumb/wahl_grant.jpg 11 MD

Grant Wahl

Baltimore 194615