Like just about everyone else, I did not expect the USA-Egypt match to change the final outcome of Group B of the Confederations Cup. With a goal difference of -5, and an Italian goal difference of +1, the Americans needed a six-goal swing between the USA-Egypt and Italy-Brazil results to go to the semifinals. Yeah, pretty bloody likely.
Well, that's exactly what happened in the USA-Egypt game. And in the Italy-Brazil game.
I wasn't able to watch the complete match, so I can't assess completely the USA's performance. It was their best performance of the Confederations Cup by default; up to today's match, the USA had one good half against Italy followed by a bad second half and a poor performance against Brazil. It appeared that Bob Bradley was able to get a better performance from his front and back lines, and Ricardo Clark underscored his importance as a holding midfielder in the national team. It was fitting that Michael Bradley would score yet another goal for his father on Father's Day. Bradley couldn't avoid a yellow card, but, well, what can you do. It was a match of grit and determination and huevos. It would be nice to have some flair, but the US team does grit and determination well, so I guess we'll have to win games that way for the near future.
In the end, the USA lost to the teams that are superior to them, and defeated the one team that was more or less evenly matched. Next up is Spain, another one of those superior sides. I don't have high expectations for that match, but the USA will play one more game in the Confederations Cup than I expected.
Actually 2 more games!
Posted by: csctn | June 22, 2009 at 08:38 AM