ThePresentTense.net

I know I’m a game late on this, but wanted to throw my thoughts out there anyway.  (plus my brother asked why I was slacking off)

Count me as one of those that thought a win against Spain was impossible for the US.  Oh how I enjoyed being proven wrong.

In thinking back over the game, three basic factors lead to the result, as I see it.  One could easily see this wasn’t the sharpest performance from the Spanish,  we figured out a way to force the game to our strengths, and the US players had the right approach to the game.

The Spanish

Bottom line, Spain didn’t play all that well.  I would say, though, that there is considerable room for argument on how much that’s due to them playing pourly and us forcing them to play poorly.  There are a lot of reports that they didn’t take their preparation for the game seriously.  I’m sure they didn’t take us seriously as an opponent despite their lip service prior to the match, but I think the energy and chip-on-the-shoulder attitude we brought to the match had a noticeable impact on the Spanish play.  I thought the pressure by Charlie Davies up front had a significant impact on Spanish trying to start their buildup to attack.

The Gameplan

For all the grief that Bob Bradley got following the first Brazil match for tactical difficienies (some from me) he was a Rembrandt on this game.  Our center backs are tall, strong, and had been playing well.  One of the Spanish strengths is creative play through the middle.  We really clogged the middle, forced the ball out wide and depended on Onyewu and Demerit to win a lot of headers and crosses into the box to help defend.  Between their exceptional play, Howard being on top of his game, and the overall team shape on defense throughout the game, it was going to be extremely difficult for Spain to score.

The Effort

All the effort that finally showed itself in the Egypt game was there in spades against Spain.  We flourish in the underdog role and you don’t get any more underdog than playing the number team in the world as a surprise participant in a major FIFA semi-final.  It doesn’t appear to me that we do well with pressure as the favored team, and a great deal of relaxation comes for us as underdogs allowing us to play our best.

While there will be skeptics and detractors that will say the US was lucky, I think this was a very solid win by the US.  We had a gameplan that we executed exceptionally well and stuck to, and we capitalized on the mistakes that Spain made.  Without question, this is going to go down as one of my favorite USMNT memories.  It gets filed right alongside waking up at three in the morning to watch the 2002 World Cup knockout stage win against Mexico.