Okay USA!

Over the past week and a half eight soccer teams have been playing in the Confederations Cup, which is a tournament gathering of previous regional tournament winners. We drew an especially difficult group with Brazil, Italy, and Egypt. Previous to this tournament the US team had been dismantled by Costa Rica.

Our first two games against Italy and Brazil saw us lose both games by a combined 6-1 margin, which is pretty big for soccer. I had meant to try and catch the final game on Sunday against Egypt even though there was almost no chance of our being able to advance past the pool round in the tournament. There was a tiny chance that we could advance even with two losses: Italy had to lose by a margin of three goals and the US had to win by the same margin. It seemed so unlikely because not only had we been playing so poorly, but how is the previous World Cup winner going to lose 3-0?

Later that day while fumbling around in my kitchen looking for food, I thought of the game that I had missed and lamented to myself that it seems like US soccer never gets the big upset. They almost never get the signature victory, and it seemed like the national team had really taken some major steps backwards in the past year or so.

And then I found out that the improbable had occurred. Italy lost 3-0, US won 3-0 over Egypt and they were going to advance to the semi-final of the Confederations Cup. The semi-final game was this afternoon against FIFA ranked #1 team Spain, who had a 35 game unbeaten streak dating back to November of 2006 and a 15 game winning streak currently rolling. Last summer they won the Euro Cup to qualify for this tournament.

And then again, the improbable occurred. While I was supposed to be working on my thesis, I couldn't tear my eyes away from the game because the US actually was staying in contention throughout. I couldn't believe it. They weren't perfect, but they were really solid. Spain never really had a solid shot on goal, though there were some pretty good opportunities, but the US defenders and keeper Tim Howard were Johnny on the Spot every time.

Jozy Altidore scored in the 24th minute, completely out-muscling the Spanish defender to get free in the 18 yd box. Later in the game, hometown hero Benny Feilhaber of Irvine, Ca created the opportunity that would lead to Clint Dempsey's game-clinching goal in the 74th minute. Maybe the Spaniards were just letting counterattacks go because they were desperate for another girl, but the US team looked really different out there with Benny in the midfield than they did with Clint playing back.

Although Charlie Davies and Altidore can be explosive, they really seem pretty lazy playing up top. I wish there were a little more like Rooney and Tevez hunting down that ball. Bradly seems to control the midfield well, but he seems to be looking to hit a lot of home runs with his passes up top. It would be nice if he played the conventional ball a little more frequently. The defense was stellar. Onyewu, DeMerit, and Spector were always in the right spots throughout the whole game, although Torres totally smoked Onyewu in the second half. Landon Donovan played probably the best game I've ever seen him play. The guy was everywhere from front to back the entire game, defending attacks and creating opportunities up front. And Tim Howard made some great saves and gave up no second chance opportunities. The Bradley red card was total BS in the second half. It's weird that the US has received so many red cards during this tournament.

In any case, it was quite a huge victory for the US squad. The final is this Sunday against the winner of the Brazil-South Africa game tomorrow. You know where I'm going to be.