How did the USA do that?

How on earth do you explain the 2-0 victory to the USA over Spain in the semi-final of the Confederations Cup? The result doesn’t make any sense at all.

Spain, unbeaten in thirty-five games, fifteen wins in a row, a string of top world class players and the European Champions. The USA, a bit of a rag-bag outfit really, beaten comfortably by Italy and Brazil and only qualifying for the semi-final due to a remarkable six goal turnaround on the last day of the group stage.

Ranked

Spain are rightly ranked number one in the world by FIFA and the USA are at number fourteen. Many people, me included, feel that fourteen is a deceptively high position for them to be in. Certainly their two opening performances in this tournament were not worthy of such a high position. A 1-0 win over Egypt or worse, or a better performance by Italy against Brazil and the USA would have been going home and more than likely, tumbling down the FIFA rankings.

What a difference a few days and two games can make! Now, the USA have more than justified their ranking and have achieved what many others have failed to do in beating an exceptional Spanish side. Whether they can go on and give Brazil any sort of game in the final is doubtful, especially after the Brazilians gave them such a footballing lesson in the group game, but their confidence will be sky high and who knows what might happen. They could easily find themselves going higher in the FIFA rankings.

Rare

In the game against Spain itself, the USA played well in the first half and could have taken the lead before they actually did just before the half hour. Whilst Spain were the better side, the USA defended well and on the rare occasions that Torres or Villa got past the likes of Carlos Bocanegra and Jay Demerit, the excellent Tim Howard was there to save the day.

The second half saw Spain with almost total domination but they could not break down the excellently organised Americans who looked a totally different team to the one opened up at will by the Brazilians. In their one breakaway attack in the second half, Fulham’s Clint Dempsey pounced on a moment of hesitation by Sergio Ramos and doubled the American’s lead.

Understandable

The celebrations at the end of the game were understandable as this must rank alongside the 1-0 victory over England in the 1950 World Cup as the greatest result in the country’s football history. Whilst in that game nearly sixty years ago the USA had one attempt on goal and the English hit the woodwork on a number of occasions, this game was a much more even affair and few could begrudge the USA their victory.

The rest of the world has always been nervous about the USA when it comes to football. Whilst the game has failed to take off in the States and the country has only partially welcomed the sport, the rest of the world has been able to dismiss the challenge of their football team. We have all known for many years that if the United States fully encompassed the beautiful game they would soon have a team that would be right up there with the very best.

Wonderful

The fact that they have managed to beat the world’s best side with a team of players, with the possible exception of Tim Howard, who would probably fail to get into the starting line-up of any of the other top twenty teams, is a wonderful achievement and one that should send worrying shock waves around the world.

If football really could take off in the USA, can you imagine what sort of team they could have in ten years time?

I have already talked this week about the fact that teams from Africa, the Far East and the Middle East are starting to become serious contenders in the world of football and the Europeans and South Americans need to be on their guard to meet the challenge head on. Maybe we can add the USA to that list now.