After an improbable route, the USA Men’s Soccer Team has reached the 2009 Confederations Cup semifinals. Improbable is an understatement when it comes to their path. This USA team was counted out after being beaten by both Italy and Brazil with the latest loss to Brazil coming on a 3-0 rout. However, on Sunday June 21, 2009, the US beat Egypt 3-0 securing their advancement to the semifinals. Team USA beat out Italy and Egypt in a tiebreaker after all three teams won once each and lost twice. The US and Italy each had a goal difference of minus two but with goals scored the Americans advanced past the Italians as the Americans had 4 to the Italians’ 3.
Brazil also advanced after having swept through Group B.
The US now advance to play the #1 ranked team in the world, Spain. Many will count out the Americans just as they did when the US lost to Brazil and Italy in pool play. Having to now face a team that hasn’t lost in 35 games since a November 2006 game, I think the slipper comes off of Cinderella in the next round. I’ll be rooting for them but I don’t see the US advancing past the powerhouse that is Spain.
Enjoy This Post?
Similar Posts:
- Redeem Team is Golden
- Just Blaze Produces Team USA Basketball Anthem
- Jeremy Tyler skips his senior year of high school to jump to the pros!
- Go Cubs Go ‘08
- Kevin Boss: It aint nothin’ to a BOSS.
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:30 am
Yeah, it was on at the gym so I watched it. Pretty entertaining because the US needed to win by 3 and they needed help from Brazil. Both games being on at the same time almost made it watchable. I said almost because I left and didn’t know what happened until I read this.
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:55 pm
P.S. Soccer is dece. Very dece.
June 24th, 2009 at 12:44 am
If by dece you mean decent then you’re ridiculous. Only in America is soccer (football) not the most popular sport. The reason for this is simple and was explained to me back in advertising class. Americans never grew up watching soccer and aren’t as addicted because for American businesses and advertisers it was much harder to fit in commercials during a soccer match compared to basketball, football, baseball, etc. While in the US commercials and the media control what sports we follow, the rest of the world has it right and stuck with soccer even if it wasn’t convenient for business to throw in their ads.
Soccer is an amazing sport that deserves its credit in this country. Recently, the US soccer team has made huge strides in recent world cups but will only improve if we continue to increase interest in soccer.
For those of you who have never attended a soccer game and think it’s decent, check out a game and you’ll be hooked. The international matches are best and which is why I’ll be booking my ticket to South Africa for next summer’s world cup matches.
June 24th, 2009 at 1:03 am
It is 100% about ad dollars. Large networks will not carry it because they cannot make money.
The World Cup and the March Madness are the two best sporting events in the world. MLS soccer is wack though. The US got super lucky and will probably get done by Spain. I don’t get this Confederations Cup thing… Is it a normal event that precedes the World Cup in the host country?
June 24th, 2009 at 6:22 am
First off, I loved watching the last World Cup. A co-worker of mine was from Ecuador and dragged me to bars to watch games. It was pretty fun to root for countries, but soccer (like hockey) will always struggle in the U.S. because we are used to consistent scoring (football and basketball) or lots of breaks between scoring (baseball). Soccer and hockey seem like one continuous back and forth with most games ending 1-0 or 2-1. Plus, try to name some big time names in soccer or hockey that have been able to transcend language and social barriers. David Beckham has done a pretty good job, but he’s British and more supermodel than athelete. If soccer and hockey could establish an image around a few key athletes like Lebron, Kobe and Peyton Manning, they’d have something. Until then…
June 24th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
A few key athletes? Soccer most definitely has that but because soccer is never a featured sport, Americans never get to see these key athletes. A couple of them are easy:
Ronaldinho
The Pretty Boy, Cristiano Ronaldo
Kaka
David Villa
These players are just a handful of the world famous stars that are out there playing. These would be recognizable to any other person on the planet besides a US citizen. But we’re developing. The MLS has a strong audience and more and more people are getting into soccer and the upcoming world cup.