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Spain 0-2 USA; Bring on the Critics

June 26th, 2009 | By: Anthony | 29 Comments »

It’s been a day and half since our shock exit from the Confederations Cup to the hands of the US. Now sure, the United States have a history of fighting for everything they wanted, from their independence from the British to helping Kuwait in the Gulf War against Iraq and more recently to liberating the world from weapons of mass destruction (or in other words George Bush trying to do one better than his father) but seriously, this was one task that I thought for sure the Yanks had no chance of coming out on top of. Defeating the former European Champions in a football match might not hold the same significance as The American Revolution, The American Civil War or Neil Armstrong being the first man to land on the moon, but this is another notch on the United States’ long list of victories. I really thought it was going to be a Vietnam repeat where the US had a bigger task than they could amount to but this is the so called “land of dreams” right? Anything was possible.

The comments over the past day and half have been more than entertaining with all the haters posting to no end. I shouldn’t be surprised really as I probably brought it upon myself being one of the cockiest bloggers ever to write for the World Cup Blog but hey, thats what this game is all about. You enjoy your victories more but take your defeats harder, its a risk worth taking in my eyes.

I mean really, the records speak for themselves, 35 matches unbeaten and a 15 match win streak is more than impressive and makes us the most successful team in terms of those kind of statistics throughout history which is respectable to say the least.

Now sure, we did lose and all credit to the U.S. who played a tough match, got the vital goal and sat on their lead but understandably so. Everyone knows we probably (alongside possibly the Dutch) have the best attacking lineup in international football and defending properly was key to the United States pulling off the upset that they did. But lets be realistic here – we completely dominated the match and the statistics showed that. From start to finish we were the stronger of the two sides with much better chances created and definitely could have won but watching the game again both Villa and Torres amongst others will definitely rue their missed chances. Having said that though, its a shame games aren’t judged based on statistics and at the end of the day a win is a win no matter how you get it and the U.S. did just that.

I think though at the same time everyone has to also realize that by no means does this indicate the downfall of the Spanish or does it make us “a weak side”. I loved the people claiming they “couldn’t wait” to see what myself amongst other Spanish fans were going to come up with as excuses to defend my beloved sides “choke” exit to the hands of the Yanks. Quite frankly I don’t have any excuses, we played a solid match and like I said, we missed a few sitters which at the end of the day ultimately would have got us the win and saw us play Brazil in the finals of the Confederations Cup.

No excuses here, but explanations to as why maybe we didn’t look as convincing in this tournament are in order. Of course these are all personal observations but I’m sure anyone who is either a Spanish fan or knows anything about the still-strongest side in the world would have seen the same.

Without Iniesta on the right and David Silva on the left our wing play was very limited. The absences of Iniesta and Silva, who are probably the best players in the world in their positions on their day is a huge blow considering we relied so heavily upon them in Austria and Switzerland where we convincingly triumphed. You can’t expect Fàbregas or Xavi to have the same impact on the right wing when they are both naturally central midfielders and considering they played there throughout the tournament, we didn’t do half-bad. Everyone knows Iniesta is one of a kind and his absence was probably single handedly our greatest blow this whole tournament. His link-up play with Xavi is mouth watering and not having it obviously took a lot out of our game.

Marcos Senna may be getting on in years but his presence in the centre of the park is vital to both our attacking and defensive play. He’s a rock and was arguable one of our keys to success in winning the European Championships and once again, another key figure out of the lineup is a huge blow. Xabi Alonso is a solid replacement and I love his play but the type of player he is doesn’t allow Xavi that luxury to roam the way he did when Senna was behind him, not to mention it doesn’t help when he’s playing out on the right flank…

Now like I said, no excuses but when you have three of your most influential players missing of course your approach will have to change and because of it we weren’t as effective, its that simple.

Another huge factor was our grouping. It was easier than easy and while the score lines might not suggest that, it was. As the matches went on we became more content and just because we only defeated Iraq 1-0, it sure as hell doesn’t mean we are only that much better than them. Complacency ultimately screwed us over and because we had such a easy group along with the fact that the U.S. arguably fluked their way into the semi-finals caused us to automatically already look ahead to the final against Brazil (who we assumed would smash South Africa but arguably came out with a lucky win themselves). Not justifying our probable stupidity, just merely explaining it.

I think as long as you keep that in mind you will still understand that by no means are we all of a sudden any weaker or less of a threat but the U.S. match was merely a small detour in our road to success.

It now means that Vicente del Bosque has suffered his first loss since taking charge but at the same time it could be a blessing in disguise seeing as he can now play around with the lineup to find the perfect combination before the World Cup next year. Just as all great leaders have suffered loses, del Bosque has suffered one too but unlike Hitler, Mussolini or even Jesus Christ, it is not the end of his world and the situation can be easily rectified.

I thought I’d add a bit of my two cents in just for the record as well (as if I hadn’t enough already eh?). This has been a fun couple weeks of blogging and regardless of what happened in this dreadful semifinal, I will never give up my confidence in my beloved team. Don’t think of it as cockiness just think of it as reality or truth. Everyone is ecstatic when their team is on top and I sure as hell am no different, we’re still on top of the world and maybe its a blessing that this happened in the Confederations Cup instead of next year in the World Cup. So in response to all the Yanks and whoever else was critiquing my beloved country; we had a bad game, I think everyone is entitled to one and we’ll just have to wait until the World Cup next year in South Africa to see who the strongest nation is, hopefully it’ll be us but as we saw – no guarantees.

Tags: Brazil, Cesc Fabregas, David Silva, David Villa, Fernando Torres, FIFA Confederations Cup, Iniesta, Iraq, Marcos Senna, Match Recap, South Africa, Spain, team news, United States, Vicente del Bosque, World Cup 2010, Xavi

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 29 comments.

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By aaron | June 26th, 2009 at 12:49 pm

saying that spain dominated the whole match ignores the fact that when altidore scored in the 27th minute (nearly 1/3 of the match), his shot on goal made it 3 shots to 2 shots in favor of the USA. clearly, spain maintained better and more consistent possession early on, but to say they were dominating the match is complete hyperbole. the USA was running at them just as much.

Posted from United States

By Uncle Sam | June 26th, 2009 at 12:56 pm

Dropping Bombs Over Madrid!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!!

By Fabio | June 26th, 2009 at 12:58 pm

Creo que España no traia nada, en el grupo le tocaron selecciones a modo y en su eliminatoria no tiene rivales que pudieran competir…creo que ya se les esta cayendo su teatrito de los supercampeones de europa, los españoles solo jugaban a tirar centros y centros como lo hizo vs nueva zelanda, sudafrica e iraq.

By The Wall | June 26th, 2009 at 1:09 pm

amen brother,.. I’m handling this defeat the same way… I’m even a little bit glad it was the U.S. and not Italy, England or some other team I hate. At least I can see a little enthusiasm for soccer from my american friends(the “USA USA USA” in text messages in my phone a proof)

Posted from United States

By sandrahn | June 26th, 2009 at 1:35 pm

You have nothing to defend. Spain are still #1 and I’m a Brazilian. I am disappointed because I wanted to see how Dunga was going to approach a final with Spain. I’ve also been very disappointed at the absence of Iniesta and Senna. For sure you’d be in the final if both of them had been available. This is a cup competition, anything can happen. And European national teams do not travel well outside Europe. Europeans have never won a wc outside Europe.

Sometimes no matter how good you are, no matter what you do, that ball just won’t go into the net. Spain hadn’t had such a game in a very long time, your turn came up.

I also have to laugh at people who’ve been arguing that Spain was finally tested by a better team. I suppose I dreamed that tournament last year where Spain beat Germany, Russia, Italy and those other minnows.

Posted from United States

By Samuel Knight (Oudegeest) | June 26th, 2009 at 4:01 pm

Nice hat tip to the Dutch attack, bummed that they weren’t there too.

I agree that Spain was more unlucky. But I can’t really share your sentiment that Spain totally dominated the match – they dominated the ball control, but both sides had lots of dangerous chances.

The Spanish seemed off, a step slow on D, and doing zilch cooperating in attack. They proved many a time to better man on man – but the extra hustle they needed wasn’t there. And sure as heck they didn’t coordinate.

It was odd – they seemed to be in shock – who are these guys? And why are they making it so darn hard?

And that last red card was hilarious – he hits the ball and is thrown out?

Posted from United States

By Weston | June 26th, 2009 at 4:01 pm

spain arent world champions yet, although they are pretty close. every team has rough patches, but take nothing away from my beloved US’s victory. did anybody else see that douche jim rome’s anti-football tirade after the brazil/SA game?

ps. torres looks like britney spears, lol.

Posted from United States

By Barry | June 26th, 2009 at 4:45 pm

Uncle Sam beat these fuckers nice and good!!! Nice and good!!!

By jeremy | June 26th, 2009 at 5:11 pm

i agree with strikerga, samuel knight, and aaron (and like aaron, sevilla en mi corazon, pero nacido en eeuu)–the first half hour of the game (and to some extent the first half) was very even, or perhaps tipped a little toward the us. i was very surprised how little spain did to respond to going down a goal–even at 0-1 you could see they weren’t taking the usa seriously, as if they were so convinced of their superiority that they needn’t bother themselves with intelligent substitutions or (gasp!) tactical adjustments. they must have seen that their opponent was succeeding in directing their attack through the flanks, where the US obviously felt comfortable handling every cross spain sent in. yet even in the second half spain did little to change the attack, or bring on a player that could at least be more effective on the wing. classic spanish commitment to identity and stubbornness (i won’t say arrogance, although i suspect that may have played a role as well).

furthermore, i don’t think it’s really fair to say the US “sat on their lead”. in the second half, spain played very high on the pitch, and the US did the majority of their defending there, where the ball was, but it’s not as if they just cleared the ball out and waited in their box for the next attack. sure, they looked pretty ragged at times, and it wasn’t pretty football in the last 20 minutes (but when ramos gives you a goal like that, you don’t really NEED to be pretty, do you?), but i think it’s a misrepresentation to make it sound like the US just played to get a one goal lead and then park the bus.

and finally, sure, villa and torres had a few miscues, but i think if another team (specifically a european team, or one that europeans aren’t predisposed to dismiss out of hand) forced that many phenomenal saves against spain, the discussion would be more about how casillas is the best keeper in the world, and not about how poor the forwards were. but because it’s the US, there’s very little mention of howard’s phenomenal performance–it was just a bad night for spain’s front line. again–not saying they couldn’t have done better with some of their chances, but it’s also true that our defense and goalie stuffed a LOT of otherwise good finishes.

sorry for the super long comment…anthony, i guess you’re used to it by now, right? : )

GO USA!!!

By porchettta | June 26th, 2009 at 5:31 pm

let us all lol at Hispañols( the word hispañic is in the english dictionary to differentiate the brown spanish from the rest of us white europeans..spain remains the most overrated team in the world..even south africa is better than hispaña..just watch out for the spanish to tumble in the world cup

Posted from Spain

By Antihate | June 26th, 2009 at 6:05 pm

I wanted SPain to play Brazil really really bad. But they got outworked by the US. If you had David Silva, Senna, and Iniesta then no. I don’t see how you would’ve lost. We will see next year.

By Don Omar | June 26th, 2009 at 6:39 pm

Observen la falta que hizo el Negro Senna. Sin el Negro Senna, Espana es pura mierda y nada mas.

By Dustin | June 26th, 2009 at 10:03 pm

Now now Anthony, do you REALLY want to piss us off?

Just dismantle your team and ban all Soccer or Football or whatever from your country and we’ll be ok. If you don’t I think you can expect a visit from Americas foremost Prop Comic, Carrot Top! You don’t want to press your luck with the good ol’ US of A, we play rough.

By Mike | June 26th, 2009 at 11:57 pm

Stick to the soccer, and don’t embarrass yourself with more juvenile, ignorant political comments. You’re only demonstrating how little you understand.

By porchetttta | June 27th, 2009 at 3:54 am

hahahhas..lolol don omar, es es berdad que sin Negro Senna, españa es nada de nada de nadaaaaaaaa

Posted from Spain

By Daryl | June 27th, 2009 at 6:04 am

I keep telling everybody who will listen that Iniesta is the actual best player in the world. What happened in his absence demonstrates this even more. Without Iniesta (even more so than Silva and Senna), Spain is just another good team. Spain needed Iniesta to unlock the contested center of the pitch.

By shingai | June 27th, 2009 at 10:35 am

@Daryl

-Doesn’t that kind of prove how overrated Spain is – or rather, how shallow their national pool is? That if one player is gone suddenly the team lacks creativity and the ability to turn a match in a “clutch” situation? And hasn’t that been Spain’s problem in the last 20 years or so? They’ve always been able to crap all over teams in the group stages of World Cups, but once they come against determined opposition they whither. They’re like the Dutch…almost too much of an obsession with the technical and lack the power to grind out a win when pretty football doesn’t get the job done.

Posted from United States

By brendan | June 27th, 2009 at 11:48 am

Overrated????? Did you see the match??? USA win was a miracle, The perfect storm. USA defense and goal had the game of their lives. Spain outclassed the US and win the game 9 times out of 10! I tip my hat to US for the perfect defensive game. But lets be realistic….Spain could have had 5 goals (not to mention the no call PK). Spain is still the best. Xavi is one of the best players and distributors I’ve ever seen play. Again, congrats to US, but the best team doesn’t always win… that’s football.

For third place…I think they will make a statement and win big to show US game was a fluke. Torres and Villa will be hungry for goals.

By brendan | June 27th, 2009 at 11:56 am

Oh, one more comment:

Regarding the interview with Bob Bradly after the game. He said key to victory was “shutting down Xavi” WHAT????? I watched the game 4 times! Xavi was incredible. They didn’t shut down shit!!! The US defense and Tim Howard won that game, PERIOD! I am an american who loves the US, but my favorite team is Spain because of the way they play. As far as the final: I think Brazil will be an easier team to play for the US. I actually think the US could win. I predict Brasil, but USA definitely has a chance. I think Brasil is Spain, but in slow motion. For that reason, US’s hustle and speed could be the answer. It will be fun. Take care!

By SP | June 27th, 2009 at 5:54 pm

brendan,

“I am an american who loves the US, but my favorite team is Spain because of the way they play” is called gloryhunting.

By jazzy | June 27th, 2009 at 9:32 pm

hey guys here is a good analysis of the Spain match
got the link from Kxevin:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=657155&sec=global&root=global&&cc=4716

Posted from Indonesia

By Mark | June 28th, 2009 at 9:22 am

SP, you couldn’t have said it better…….i am not a fan of gloryhunters, and that’s all brendan is.

Born in the USA, live in the USA, then USA should be your team.

And guess what….USA beat Spain hahahah

By Weston | June 28th, 2009 at 8:18 pm

amen mark/SP. the only football fans in my are area all gloryhunting man united crap and are always conveniently allied with whoever is doing well.

Posted from United States

By Nithin | June 29th, 2009 at 2:53 pm

‘My favourite team is XYZ because of the way they play’ isn’t glory hunting, IMO. Because of the trophies they win, or the money they splash to get big names, or the hype they have, yes. But the way somebody plays is a very valid reason to be their fan.

Posted from India

By SP | June 29th, 2009 at 10:17 pm

nithin, i see what you are saying, but i think that success is a large part of the way a team plays. for example, i doubt a team like west bromwich albion or a country like new zealand will get many fans for the way they play. i can’t really think of any unsuccessful team that has fans for the way they play.

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