On a cold South African night in Bloemfontein, in the coliseum of Free State Stadium, amidst the drones of plastic vuvuzelas, David slew Goliath.
The United States, having improbably made it to this point, faced the No. 1 ranked Spaniards in the first game of the Confederations Cup semifinal and prevailed, 2-0, from goals by Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey. The U.S. will play in the final – it’s first-ever final in a FIFA tournament – against Brazil, who beat host nation South Africa Thursday 1-0.
The US-Spain match perfectly illustrated why soccer is sometimes called a beautiful game, but can also be oh-so-cruel in determining a victor. Spain had most of the run of play for 90 minutes but couldn’t find the back of the net despite having played attractive one- and two-touch soccer complete with overlapping runs, pinpoint accurate crosses and plenty of individual flair.
The Spanish starting line-up reads like a who’s who of European league soccer: Fernando Torres and David Villa up top, Xabi Alonso and Xavi in the midfield, and Sergio Ramos and Carles Puyol in the back, among others. But if the U.S. was intimidated in anyway, it didn’t show.
The Americans came out with high energy and pressured early. U.S. forward Charlie Davies had an exciting bicycle kick off of a Dempsey cross that went just wide of the goal. Dempsey had a dangerous shot of his own that caught the defense off-guard, but it went wide left of the goal.
The Spaniards gathered their composure by the 10th minute and began to unleash its offensive prowess on the U.S. Striker Fernando Torres came close to netting the first goal of the game in the 11th, finding himself free on the end of a David Villa cross, but he put the ball well-over the crossbar.
Altidore put the U.S. ahead in the 27th minute off of a strong individual effort in which he out muscled Spain’s left back, Joan Capdevila, to pounce on a Dempsey pass. Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas got a glove to the ball, but deflected the shot into the net. Altidore stripped off his jersey in celebration and earned a yellow card for the act.
The speedy tandem of Davies and Altidore up front for the U.S. was a handful for the Spanish back line. Capdevila, perhaps still on edge from being beaten on the Altidore goal, was issued a yellow card in the 36th minute for grabbing a handful of white jersey and bringing down the American goal-scorer just as he made a break for a through ball.
The Yanks took the lead into halftime, but not before their opponents mounted multiple last-minute attacks. The American defense bended — yoga-pretzel bended, in fact — but did not break.
Spain came out firing in the second half, sending defenders Ramos and Capdevila forward more frequently than it had in the first. U.S. keeper Tim Howard withstood the barrage and was helped by excellent team defense.
Dempsey tallied for the U.S. in the 74th striking a loose ball from five yards out that deflected off Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos. The build-up began when substitute Benny Feilhaber collected a ball on the left side off of a deflection and danced around all four Spanish backs before slotting the ball to Donovan who had freed himself on the right side. The American captain crossed a ball through the heart of the defense to Dempsey, who found himself unmarked and spun around quickly to take the shot.
The Spaniards desperately tried to get on the scoreboard late. They did more than throw the kitchen sink at the Americans — they threw the septic tank at them, but couldn’t get one past the U.S., nor could they tally despite playing against 10 men in the 87th minute after American midfielder Michael Bradley was given a straight red card for a hard tackle.
After 90-plus minutes, the U.S. emerged victorious. The Spaniards could only shake their heads and wonder, along with much of the rest of the world, how the Americans had done it. How had they conquered a team that had a 35-game unbeaten streak and had been steam rolling over each of its opponents in this tournament?
For one, the Spanish defense was spotty the whole game. Any attempt to defend the ball looked like an afterthought. The team was caught flat-footed and paid dearly on the second-goal, which was the result of Pique, Puyol and Capdevila all collapsing on the ball, leaving the space in front of the goal open. Ramos lost track of his mark, far-post, and Dempsey was able to slide in unnoticed.
Individually, Ramos was lazy on a few occasions, getting caught in the offensive third and leaving his teammates a defender short. Capdevila was atrocious. He should be credited with an assist on the Altidore goal because he toe-poked the ball ahead, which allowed Altidore to break open for the shot. Pique and Puyol looked like they’re still feeling the effects of late-night celebrating of Barcelona’s Champions League win — they were late in covering, didn’t provide double-team defense when needed and made poor clearances.
On offense, Torres and Villa had several chances that they were unable to finish. When the Spanish became frustrated in their attack, they became predictable, bringing the ball up the flanks and crossing to the center. Spain clearly missed the creativity of offensive magician Andres Iniesta, who is sitting out the tournament with a leg injury.
But as much as Spain failed to live up to its No. 1 billing, the U.S. deserves credit for a complete team effort. The Americans literally put their bodies on the line, diving and sliding everywhere to get the slightest deflection. U.S. Manager Bob Bradley looks like a genius now, when a few games ago, some observers were calling for his head. This win has probably bought him more time at the helm.
Many might have wanted a sexier Spain-Brazil final, but for the Americans, this was the best result they could have ever dreamed for.
Final Quick Thoughts: Bradley’s red card was undeserved. Replays show he went for the ball…Gamesmanship happens in every soccer game, but hopefully Donovan and Altidore keep their day jobs because they aren’t good actors. The ref didn’t buy it, anyway, and didn’t give out any cards when each went down and rolled around like they had been shot…Torres should have changed his boots for some with longer studs. He was slip-sliding all over the field…Spain interestingly had played its last two matches at Free State Stadium…The ESPN announcers mentioned that the Harlem Globetrotters had drafted Howard earlier in the week. Seriously?
U.S. Player Ratings:
(Pos., Player, Rating, Comment)
GK Tim Howard: 9 The Americans couldn’t have asked for a better performance from their veteran keeper. Howard was on all night, and with the exception of a few goal kicks he shanked or gave directly to the Spaniards.
LB Carlos Bocanegra: 6 Had a solid game despite coming back from injury. Was beaten by Torres a few times, but kept his cool.
CB Jay DeMerit: 5 Shaky first half in which his clearances found Spanish players, more solid second half
CB Oguchi Onyewu: 8 Was a beast in the central defense. Cleared everything that came his way.
RB Jonathan Spector: 5 A young player that’s still learning. Had a few nice clearances, but needs to stop clearing the ball directly to the opponent. Also had a lazy throw in to Donovan that was intercepted and nearly resulted in a Fabregas goal.
LW Landon Donovan: 8 Consistent all-around game for the U.S. vet. Silly yellow card early in the game, but it was a non-factor as he kept his composure the rest of the way.
CM Michael Bradley: 7 Unlucky with the red, but took control of his area of the midfield and made key tackles to break up Spain’s passing.
CM Ricardo Clark: 5 Says a lot about his performance that when making this list, I couldn’t remember who played here. He had a few timely defensive stops, but had an otherwise quiet match – probably because he let Fabregas have too much space in the middle and didn’t do much to stop him.
RW Clint Dempsey: 6 Great goal, but he has to put a little more defense (or effort on defense) in his game.
LF Charlie Davies: 8 Worked hard all game and gave the Spaniards fits. He’s had an excellent tournament thus far. Would have been an amazing goal had he scored on that bicycle attempt in the 7th minute. Not bad for a guy that has less than 10 caps to his name. I’m looking forward to seeing more of him in the future.
RF Jozy Altidore: 7 I hope the people over at Villareal were watching this match and consider bringing Jozy back from Xerez and either play him or trade him. He has too much potential to be sitting on the bench every week.
Subs:
Benny Feilhaber: 7 Made an immediate impact. His dribbling and ability to hold the ball was what led the Dempsey goal. Bradley needs to find a place for him in the starting XI.
Conor Casey: - Subbed in the 84th minute, didn’t do enough to warrant a rating.
Jonathan Bornstein: – Played cleanup minutes after subbing in the 88th.
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Tara Chozet is a graduate of Dartmouth College and is now a second-year graduate journalism student at the University of Southern California. After she realized she wasn’t good enough to make a living out of playing sports, she decided she to write about them instead. An avid soccer fan, she now hopes to get paid to travel the world on someone else’s dime, watch games for free, and occasionally get a story out of those experiences.
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