Confederations Cup: With Slim Hope, USA Expects Difficult Match Against Egypt

RUSTENBERG, South Africa -- Technically, the United States is still in contention to advance to the semifinals of the Confederations Cup. All they have to do is beat Egypt—the same Egypt that upset Italy on Thursday evening--and make up a 6-goal differential with Italy, provided, of course, that the Azzurri fall to Brazil at the same time.

Easy, right?

“It’s been a rough start for us to the tournament,” striker Landon Donovan said in a press conference here on Saturday afternoon. “But we find ourselves with some hope. Our mindset now is to give ourselves every opportunity. Soccer is a strange game and strange things happen.”

The US opened the tournament with a 3-1 loss to Italy, then crashed horribly to Brazil, ending up on the wrong side of a 3-0 scoreline. The Brazil game was one of the most lackluster performances by the US team in recent memory, with almost no one on the US side showing the energy and grit required to get a result against an obviously superior squad.

“Every team arrives at the Confederations Cup or the World Cup with high hopes, and usually it doesn’t always just go your way,” US coach Bob Bradley said. “There’s a belief in that. There’s an understanding in terms of how we talk to each other, how we work, and there’s a pride within the team from the leaders, a sense that we’ve had chances, particularly against Italy. We hurt ourselves badly with a nervous start against Brazil, but now, we’ll look to make adjustments and go for three points.”

On Sunday, the US face an Egyptian side that is oozing confidence at the moment. The African champions possess a shimmering mix of creativity, speed, power, and experience they first unleashed at last year’s Africa Cup of Nations. They are, if you will, Africa’s version of Brazil, and their performances—a 4-3 loss to Brazil, a 1-0 win over Italy—have made them the darlings of the tournament.

How can the US, whose players seemed demoralized and at a loss to explain their struggles when talking to the media after the loss to Brazil, overcome the Pharaohs?

“They’ve done a great job,” Donovan said about Egypt. “Obviously they’re athletic, they’re talented and they have a few players who can make special plays. They run hard and they work hard and I give them a lot of credit for the way they played. It’s going to be a difficult match.”

Captain and defender Carlos Bocanegra, who missed the first two matches, trained at full-speed and underwent a fitness test during Saturday evening’s training session. His status for Sunday is still being decided. However, commentators stateside have been pressing Bradley these past few days to insert some fresh faces into the squad, calling in particular for starting roles for Jose Francisco Torres and Freddy Adu.

“I would expect there would be a couple of changes,” Bradley stated. “But I don’t plan on making changes just for the sake of changes. We believe in what we’re doing and we’re excited for this game and we owe it to ourselves to go out and compete.”

Greg Lalas, Goal.com

For more on the U.S. National Team visit Goal.com's U.S. National Team page.