U.S. soccer is all grown up

By Jorge Bannister
Fan Fanatic Sports

It was no secret to our readers that I thought the United States was fit for a bronze medal in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. Boy, was I wrong.

For 55 minutes, the U.S. played with such aggression and desire that I thought it was going to be Upset Special No. 2 in this tournament.

(For those of you who haven’t watched any of this tournament, or have been under a rock when it comes to American sports in recent news, the U.S. defeated Spain, 2-0, to gain the Final. Brazil advanced by defeating South Africa, 1-0, on a late goal.)

Sadly, in the 84th minute, Dempsey — who scored the first goal in the 10th — lost sight of Lucio and the defender headed home the winner off an Elano corner. U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard, who was named best goalkeeper of the tournament, had no chance.

U.S. players heading to the medal stand to accept their silver medals were downtrodden. Dempsey was the more emotional one, crying heavily on the pitch (that’s what they call the field in soccer) before slowly walking to the medal stand with his head hung low.

While this is great news for U.S. soccer fans, the players would’ve liked a win. Landon Donovan, who hasn’t beaten Brazil at any level, eluded to it in his post-game interviews.

If anything else, I know that I now have respect manager Bob Bradley a little more — even if his team did play tentative and scared in the second half. He proved that this group belongs among the world’s elite. However, he needs a way to get them to play a full 90-minute match every time much like they did against Spain. It seemed as though he managed the second half from the private VIP boxes rather than field level.

I know one thing for certain — if the U.S. makes the 2010 World Cup, which is scheduled to be played in South Africa as the Confed Cup was, nobody will take them lightly. Not even if they play like hell in any of the CONCACAF Cup games.

Dempsey, defense sends U.S. to Confed Cup Final

By Jorge Bannister
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Well, this isn’t the last time I will be wrong — I can assure you of that.

In what will be known as quite possibly the darkest day in Spaniard Soccer history, the United States pulled off the previously thought of improbable upset.

The U.S. scored in the 27th minute on a goal by Jozy Altidore, then came out flat in the second half.

It almost cost them the lead until Clint Dempsey got his 15th international goal in the 73rd minute to give the U.S. a two-nil victory over Spain.

For those of you new to the soccer lingo, that’s 2-0.

The four backs — Jay DeMerit, Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu and Jonathan Spector — absolutely shut down Fernando Torres, David Villa and Xavi.

There was one situation where I thought a goal was all but assured for the Spaniards. In the 53rd minute, midfielder Cesc Fabregas lobbed a ball over Landon Donovan to Xavi inside the 18-yard box. However, Donovan bumped Xavi hard from behind taking him out of the play and referee Jorge Larrionda didn’t even make a movement to bring the whistle to his mouth to call the foul.

Soon after, the U.S. was finally able to get the ball to safety in the neutral zone and finally into its attacking zone for Dempsey’s goal.

The defense/midfield was stupendous for the U.S. and will have to be come Sunday for the final when they will no doubt face Brazil.

A phenomenal showing for the U.S. which has certainly given its fan base something to look forward to: A possible Confederations Cup championship.