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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment