USA shock Spain

June 25, 2009

European champions Spain were defeated 2-0 in the confederations cup semi-final by USA last night in what many will see as one of the greatest upsets in football.

Spain had not lost a match since 2006 and were only one game away from holding the record, on their own, for the longest run of undefeated games, currently they hold the joint record with Brazil. Spain went into last night’s game very much the favourites and their top stars were out in force but the Us were deserved winners taking the game to the European champions from kick off.

Jozy Altidore broke the deadlock on 27 minutes when he turned Joan Capdevila and beat Iker Casillas from 15 yards. Fulham’s Clint Dempsey then doubled the lead on 74 minutes when he converted Landon Donovan’s pass from close range which Sergio Ramos failed to deal with.

“It’s exciting, a great team effort. To beat an amazing team like Spain and make the final, it’s big,” said US coach Bob Bradley.

“We played as hard as we could and that’s what it took. Every guy contributed, so it’s a very good feeling.”

US captain Carlos Bocanegra added: “I think it just shows that we can compete with the best. Now we need to do it on a consistent basis.”

The US team were confident going into the match that they could cause an upset. The only sour point of the night for the USA was the sending off of Michael Bradley, son of the coach, for a late tackle on Xavi.

Spain had a number of chances to get back into the game but failed to convert. Del Bosque however refused to be too downhearted after the shock reverse in Bloemfontein and insisted: “This is an accident, a little step backward. We have to look forward with optimism.”

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.