U.S. Soccer

So the U.S. Men's Soccer Team just completed a nice, somewhat surprising run through the Confederations Cup. For those that do not know the Confederations Cup consists of 8 teams, the winner from each of the 6 continents (No Antarctica champion), the defending World Cup Champion from 2006 and the host nation for the 2010 World Cup. Through most of the first two games the U.S. played in the group stages, they played poorly against Italy and Brazil. The Brazil game was quite embarrassing as they lost 3-0 and showed no heart whatsoever. Demarcus Beasley had a key turnover that led to a Brazilian goal on a fast break streaking across the pitch. That was the proverbial "nail in the coffin" for him on this national team, at best I think he can be a sub but he is not a starter. He had a lot of negative energy that I think brought down everyone else around him. The tides began to turn for this team last Sunday against Egypt. Needing to beat them by 3 goals and needing to get help from Brazil over Italy, this team suddenly came to life. I did not see this game, but seeing the highlights and reading and listening to the commentary, this team finally showed some heart. They showed they could be a force. A team that struggled to move the ball up and down the field efficiently with crisp passes and movement off the ball was now looking like a team that had some potential to do some good things. We could only hope as U.S. fans that they could build off of this momentum and take it into their next game against the Spanish, the number one ranked team in the world and on a 35 match winning streak. As the U.S.-Spain match began to develop, you could just sense the energy and the confidence on the pitch for the U.S. squad. They were putting pressure on the Spanish to defend and were attacking down the field with solid ball movement. They were showing hustle, they were showing heart, they were showing a new found confidence. I would be remiss if I did not mention one of the unheralded stars for the U.S. squad, Charlie Davies, a young, fast Forward who was a catalyst for the team in the Egypt game as well as the Spanish game. He helped set the tone with his energy. In the 25th minute Jozy Altidore, the young 19 year old striker used his body well to hold off the Spanish defender and powered a goal past the Spanish keeper. Goal U.S., 1-0. The game was tight the rest of the way as Tim Howard and the defense came up huge against a barrage of Spanish shots on goal. The number one team was not going down without a fight. Than in the 73rd minute, Clint Dempsey put in a ball of a deflection from a Spanish defender into the back of the net for a 2-0 U.S. lead. Looking at the replay, it was widely thought that Landon Donovan should have taken the shot as the goalkeeper was the only one between him and the back of the net. Instead he crossed it through several Spanish defenders, who failed to clear it out of the box, to Dempsey on the back post to seal the deal for the U.S. They held on for a huge win to advance to the final to take on Brazil, a team that had embarrassed them 3-0 earlier in the tournament. Going into this game, it felt different, their was a different vibe around this team. This team was all but left for dead after losing to Italy and Brazil by a combined 6-1 score. They had outscored their next two opponents, Egypt and Spain 5-0. What a complete 180 for this team, that now brings some hope going into next summer's World Cup. Regardless of the result against Brazil in the final, this team had already exceeded the expectations of so many. All they needed to do, in my opinion, was to play a competitive game to build off of into the second half of their qualifying for the World Cup to start up again later in the summer. The U.S. got off to a fast start in the final. Scoring two goals in the first 26 minutes to get on top of a shell shocked Brazilian squad, but they aren't the Brazilians for nothing. After taking that 2-0 lead into halftime, the U.S. had to know that they were about to get a full flurry of attacks from Brazil, and they did. With beautiful precision and speed, Brazil responded quickly, scoring in the first minute of the second half. Than with that came two more goals in the 73rd and 83rd minutes to seal the deal. The U.S. had done everything they could, they just ran out of gas. They could not get the ball from the Brazilians, as they played typical South American soccer, possessing the ball and showing everyone calls this the beautiful game. The U.S. showed heart, they showed they could go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the world. Let's hope they can carry this momentum all the way into next summer.

Mb