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Confederations Cup: Never Underestimate The United States
Goal.com’s Shane Evans has learned the hard way and following the USMNT’s amazing 2-0 victory over Spain, he wonders what went wrong with his prediction.
Jun 24, 2009 6:11:41 PM
By Shane Evans
I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t have much faith in the U.S. Men’s National Team going into their Confederations Cup semi-final match against Spain on Wednesday.
Actually, I had zero faith. None at all. I thought it was going to be quite a messy affair, in Spain’s favor. I thought it’d be 3-0...at halftime. I took it further though. Stupidly, I claimed that if the U.S. somehow won, I’d take ballet dancing lessons.
Well, 90 minutes of football later...I’m eating my words. Every single last one of my Bob Bradley slurs. The whole lot.
And so are you.
When I looked at the head-to-head match-up, there were a few glaring points that were clearly in Spain’s favor:
1. Spain are the #1 ranked team in the world. There are a lot of nations out there, you know.
2. Spain haven’t lost a match in three years.
3. The U.S. looked disgraceful in its first two matches and towards the end of their game against Egypt looked gassed.
4. Spain hadn’t allowed a goal in over 400 minutes of football.
5. Did I mention Spain are the top ranked team in the world?
So I go out and say that the U.S. is going to get beat badly, and frankly, they should have. They were the clear-cut underdogs in the match and were picked to lose by EVERYONE.
It’s all well and good that I can have my views published on Goal.com for all to see, but reading this now, how many of you really thought much differently than I did? Sure, I may have exaggerated a bit, but the common perception of the match was that Spain was going to have its way with a vastly inferior U.S. team.
As we all know, that wasn’t the case and Bob Bradley was able to ‘orchestrate’ a dramatic 2-0 victory against a team who hadn’t lost a match since 2006. They hadn’t even allowed a goal in nearly 500 minutes of football. Then this. Nobody saw it coming. Nobody.
So how did it happen? What magical tactics were used to help the U.S. pull of this shocker? Here are my initial reactions to what I just saw, even if my eyes don’t believe it happened.
Tim Howard: Without question, my man of the match. Save after save, Howard was subject to a furious red firing squad for most of the match, and well, look at the score. The usually lethal Spanish frontmen couldn’t beat Howard who looked as good as he ever has.
The Midfield: Against Italy and Brazil, the center four players in the U.S. XI were non-existent. Not only that, but when on the ball, it just seemed like they wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible and they certainly didn’t show any determination. The same can’t be said about their performance in the Spain match. Flowing and aggressive, the ball was pushed around the pitch at will they made their opposition look lackluster for stretches, particularly in the first half.
The Center Backs: How strong were Oguchi Onyewu and Jay Demerit? For the entire 90 minutes they played excellent defense, guarding Tim Howard’s net like two hawks guarding their nest (the way it should be played, mind you). Every time the ball came inside, it was immediately sent flying in the other direction thanks to Onyewu and Demerit’s play in the middle. Much of the credit has to go to them.
Old Spain Is Back: They choke when it counts. The Euros were a fluke. They’re back to being the team that has all the talent in the world, but can’t finish.
Obviously, you don’t go running your mouth like I did, if you aren’t positive that the result you predicted will happen. Spain were clearly favorites, and despite the loss, still have the better team. The U.S. were just better on the day and made the Spanish side pay for not executing in their normal fashion.
So looking back, and knowing I’ll now have to embarrass myself by taking ballet lessons (probably just ‘lesson’ as I won’t be able to afford more than one) was I wrong to say what I did? No, absolutely not. But being the knowledgeable and fairly well-received journalist that I am, how could I underestimate a team so drastically? Just like most of you did, of course.
Shane Evans is an Associate Editor of Goal.com
For more on the Confederations Cup, visit its Goal.com section!
I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t have much faith in the U.S. Men’s National Team going into their Confederations Cup semi-final match against Spain on Wednesday.
Actually, I had zero faith. None at all. I thought it was going to be quite a messy affair, in Spain’s favor. I thought it’d be 3-0...at halftime. I took it further though. Stupidly, I claimed that if the U.S. somehow won, I’d take ballet dancing lessons.
Well, 90 minutes of football later...I’m eating my words. Every single last one of my Bob Bradley slurs. The whole lot.
And so are you.
When I looked at the head-to-head match-up, there were a few glaring points that were clearly in Spain’s favor:
1. Spain are the #1 ranked team in the world. There are a lot of nations out there, you know.
2. Spain haven’t lost a match in three years.
3. The U.S. looked disgraceful in its first two matches and towards the end of their game against Egypt looked gassed.
4. Spain hadn’t allowed a goal in over 400 minutes of football.
5. Did I mention Spain are the top ranked team in the world?
So I go out and say that the U.S. is going to get beat badly, and frankly, they should have. They were the clear-cut underdogs in the match and were picked to lose by EVERYONE.
It’s all well and good that I can have my views published on Goal.com for all to see, but reading this now, how many of you really thought much differently than I did? Sure, I may have exaggerated a bit, but the common perception of the match was that Spain was going to have its way with a vastly inferior U.S. team.
As we all know, that wasn’t the case and Bob Bradley was able to ‘orchestrate’ a dramatic 2-0 victory against a team who hadn’t lost a match since 2006. They hadn’t even allowed a goal in nearly 500 minutes of football. Then this. Nobody saw it coming. Nobody.
So how did it happen? What magical tactics were used to help the U.S. pull of this shocker? Here are my initial reactions to what I just saw, even if my eyes don’t believe it happened.
Tim Howard: Without question, my man of the match. Save after save, Howard was subject to a furious red firing squad for most of the match, and well, look at the score. The usually lethal Spanish frontmen couldn’t beat Howard who looked as good as he ever has.
The Midfield: Against Italy and Brazil, the center four players in the U.S. XI were non-existent. Not only that, but when on the ball, it just seemed like they wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible and they certainly didn’t show any determination. The same can’t be said about their performance in the Spain match. Flowing and aggressive, the ball was pushed around the pitch at will they made their opposition look lackluster for stretches, particularly in the first half.
The Center Backs: How strong were Oguchi Onyewu and Jay Demerit? For the entire 90 minutes they played excellent defense, guarding Tim Howard’s net like two hawks guarding their nest (the way it should be played, mind you). Every time the ball came inside, it was immediately sent flying in the other direction thanks to Onyewu and Demerit’s play in the middle. Much of the credit has to go to them.
Old Spain Is Back: They choke when it counts. The Euros were a fluke. They’re back to being the team that has all the talent in the world, but can’t finish.
Obviously, you don’t go running your mouth like I did, if you aren’t positive that the result you predicted will happen. Spain were clearly favorites, and despite the loss, still have the better team. The U.S. were just better on the day and made the Spanish side pay for not executing in their normal fashion.
So looking back, and knowing I’ll now have to embarrass myself by taking ballet lessons (probably just ‘lesson’ as I won’t be able to afford more than one) was I wrong to say what I did? No, absolutely not. But being the knowledgeable and fairly well-received journalist that I am, how could I underestimate a team so drastically? Just like most of you did, of course.
Shane Evans is an Associate Editor of Goal.com
For more on the Confederations Cup, visit its Goal.com section!
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