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USA – Spain Quotes after the Semifinal

USA fans, go ahead and savor this moment.  This is a feeling to remember, it was a game to never forget.

USA Flag-150x79 Spain Flag-119x79

USA defeats Spain 2-0, advances to 2009 Confederations Cup Final
This win is huge for American soccer. It’s the first time we’ve gone to the final of a major competition. We were down and out and no one expected us to win. Everyone back home is going to be excited about this and we’re all thrilled. – Clint Dempsey, USA midfielder and Man of the Match The US put in a tremendous team effort and were all over the field. We were surprised by how well they played and we have to take our hats off to them. This is football, we faced a strong rival today … the Americans played with tremendous heart. – Vicente del Bosque, Spain coach
We just beat the best team in the world, so we’re going to be very fired up no matter who we meet in the final. – Landon Donovan, USA forward The US defended quite well and counter-attacked effectively…They were prepared for this match.- Juan Manuel Mata, Spain midfielder
Spain are a super team and it’s a great feeling to have beaten them. We always felt we had a chance in this game. – Bob Bradley, USA coach We knew that we would eventually lose a game and our winning streak would end… we have to tip our hats to the USA. – Xabi Alonso, Spain midfielder

The first open final the USA has ever made it into and easily the biggest upset of the year.


Posted in Clint Dempsey, Confederation Cup, Landon Donovan, Project USA, Quotes, Soccer, Spain, US Mens National Team, US Soccer, US Soccer Players.

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By admin – June 25, 2009

It’s the American Thing to Do

The US Mens National Team face Spain in the Confederation Cup Semifinals in South Africa in a few hours, which is not surprising if you were flying over Iowa Saturday and observed bovines fluttering their wings at 40,000 feet.

Winning a spot in the semi-finals is a shocking result which the US team should be proud of, no matter how surprising given the play of the US in their first two matches.

Soccer is a capricious animal but, like a gift horse, you don’t look good fortune in the mouth.

No US soccer pundit with any sense wants to predict a result for the semifinal match.  Spain is quite possibly the best national soccer team in the world right now, they are tremendous.  Picking them to win would be like betting on gravity.  I won’t go on about them.

But I can tell you two things about any soccer team brazen enough to go after and capture a semifinal berth after such shocking performances as the US had against Italy and Brazil:

  • The team must be American, for no other nation would so brazenly ignore their own limitations
  • Any team that can pull that off is beyond second guessing

In the world order America has always been an upstart, at our best when we have little pedigree and less acceptance of our limitations.  It is not beginners’ luck.

The word is optimism.  When you can’t see anything that would stop you, there really are few limitations.

It may not change the odds, but it might make you a fan.


Posted in Confederation Cup, Project USA, Soccer, Spain, US Mens National Team, US Soccer.

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By admin – June 23, 2009

What fans want

If you are an avowed fan of the beautiful game, as I am, you are probably both a student and critic of your team’s play. What is it you want from your team?

I am a fan of some of the greatest futbol teams in the world, but no less a fan of my hometown team, the San Jose Earthquakes of the MLS. The Quakes have a storied past that includes a couple MLS championships and further back even George Best, but I am loyal to them mostly because they are my home town team.

I am also a fan of Manchester United, and more dispassionately some of the other great teams in Spain, Italy, Mexico and England. You may know that Manchester United won the English Premier League the last three years running, and lost the UEFA Champions League this year to Barcelona.

Is it fair to expect the same of the Quakes that I do of United?

Last season, Man Utd often didn’t play with the brilliance one associates with world domination. They were good, fine, but wasted far too many chances, while Barcelona was running up high goal counts with perfectly clinical finishing in Spain. United dominated the possession against many of their rivals and, rarely under serious pressure, their vaunted defense looked like it atrophied. The best club in the world, the archetype for a modern soccer team? In most games last season that would be a tough statement to sell.

What Manchester United did most of the time, instead of playing perfectly, was win. Winning allows the fan to see everything they want in the team. The harshest lens of reality is saved for teams not winning or at least not meeting their competitive expectations. Winners get a pass.

Last Saturday my hometown team, the Quakes, did something unusual. They are a team which quite often this year has shown good skill and flair, passing like a team of higher pedigree, challenging defenders with Beckham-esque long balls, and testing keepers with a barrage of fine shots. This Saturday, with a shaken up roster and maybe a poor pitch, they exhibited little of that quality. Instead they just won. [See story Quakes hold on to beat Galaxy 2-1 on American Soccer News]

In the game of soccer, just victory often deflects off a goal post, evaporates in a split second of inattention, or is even abused by refereeing decisions. In soccer the better team can win, but not always.

Fans of teams like Barcelona and Manchester United at the pinnacle of the sport will always demand an exceptional approach to the game showcasing skill, cunning, style, and verve from which victory follows like fruit dropping ripe from a tree.

I appreciate all those finest qualities of play, but as a fan of one of the other 98% of soccer clubs, a result that allows me to chant victoriously as I march out of the stadium is good enough.


Posted in Barcelona, Manchester United, Opinion, San Jose Earthquakes, Soccer.

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By admin – June 23, 2009