Confed Cup Semi # 1

MUSIC: Joe Strummer- Arms Aloft

After the shocking results on Sunday we are looking at a different semi-final tomorrow than what I expected. I was totally wrong about the USA against Egypt. They played great and really made the most of the opportunity. Fortunately the Brazilians cooperated and stomped on Italy, putting us through on goals-for.

For me the game was decided in first five minutes. On one of the very first sequences of the match Jay Demerit misjudged a bouncing ball and it slipped by him, resulting in an Egyptian scoring opportunity. This and a few other incidents looked to give Egypt the run of play. In an earlier game the US would have been instantly demoralized and accept the inevitable goal from their opponents, but on Sunday the team stood their ground, worked together, and kept grinding. The Davies goal is proof of the effort and to me symbolizes all that went right on Sunday. He worked and worked, got in on a play that looked dead and used a nice bit of skill to put the ball in. Good job all around.

Realistically, it will be very difficult for the US to beat Spain, but that does not mean there is nothing to play for. A second strong showing will do wonders for this squad and there is all that people say about showing up being half of it. But...

It is not just that Spain are the European Champs and on a current unbeaten run approaching 3 dozen games. The match up does not look good for the US. The Spanish attack often culminates in the sublime and deft final touch from Fernando Torres or David Villa, but those is just the finishing touch on an effort many passes, yards, and sometimes even minutes in the making. The essence of this team is the artful passing through which they move the ball forward, pull markers off their positions, and create chances for their forwards. I think this will be an extremely difficult attack for the American midfield to slow and contain. Michael Bradley has been a superman for the US thus far and will have to be at it again. But he will need help. If they use the same line-up as they did on Sunday, two of the more advance players will need to drop back and pitch in some work in the midfield, leaving only guy high. And then there is David Silva, who has been declared fit and will likely start. He does not have the acclaim (and probably doesn't deserve it to be honest) that some of the elite wide-men do, but in this squad he can be lethal. Picking up balls from X & X then spotting out one of the strikers he might be a key point in the Spanish attack. The fact that flanks of the American defense have been targeted, justifiably so, in the two losses I think Spain will try to copy Brazil's game plan. Expect Sergio Ramos to move up the right side in overlapping runs the way Maicon did.

At this point the US are playing with house money and they should make the most of it tomorrow.