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USA 2, Spain 0: The Goals

Jozy Altidore 9 (ISIphotos.com) 

                                                  Photo by ISIphotos.com

The USA's 2-0 win over Spain was chock full of highlights, from clutch defensive plays  to dynamic saves, and before long we are sure to see compilations of Tim Howard saves and Jay DeMerit tackles and Oguchi Onyewu clearances. Tonight, we can take a look back at the goals.

Here are the goals scored by Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey in today's Confederations Cup semifinal upset. Enjoy:

Comments

  1. @Christian,

    The goals were “a bit of luck.” The first one came from a pinpoint, well-timed pass from Dempsey, then Altidore did a fantastic job of shielding his defender, turning with the ball, and finishing. Luck had nothing to do with that goal.

    The second, though a poorly handled ball by the Spanish defense, resulted from a string of great one and two touch passes put together by the U.S. offense, and a great finish by Dempsey working hard not to give up on the play.

    No, I don’t think anybody is going to let this one “go to our heads.” Everybody is well aware of Spain’s talent, and what a huge upset this was. However, that was a full strength Spain side that any day of the week should have won. They have no excuses. They weren’t well prepared, and underestimated a U.S. team that has the capability to knock off “powerhouses.” I just don’t want to hear all the excuses start to be trumped out about how “this and that” caused them to lose. Spain lost yesterday on the pitch with all of it’s weapons at hand. I’m going to enjoy it for a few days.

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  2. hahah looks like Spain totally slept on the US which is strange given the way last year’s friendly played out.

    A bit of luck involved in both goals but the US did more than enough to win the game. If Spain wasn’t prepared (which was pretty obvious) that’s their problem.

    The problem, as some have already pointed out, is that this game will put the US on the map and teams won’t be underestimating the US anymore, at least one would hope so. You also can’t depend on luck and other results to go your way in order to advance because this tournament is the exception to the rule.

    Either way, congratulations US fans.

    Enjoy this result but don’t let it go to your head.

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  3. Ease up on the Casey hate. He’s a lesser version of Brian Ching. He can defend headers on set pieces and win the cleared ball (occasionally) up top, and is really tough to be knocked off of the ball. He’s doing EXACTLY what he’s told to do, and he’s doing an okay job of it.

    He stays in the middle of the field, not because he’s lazy, but because that’s where he’s being told to play. I’m sure the direction is “park your big ass in the middle of the field, so everyone can find you, and don’t let them take the ball when you get it.”

    He ain’t Messi, and if you’re expecting him to be, you’re setting yourself up for diappointment.

    Running around chasing the ball allows more people with the ball to be pushed up the field ahead of him.

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  4. Again I’ll say, what an incredible win, and what character this team has shown when all looked lost after the 3-0 thrashing by Brazil. If we can somehow manage to win the final, and even if we don’t, what an incredible amount of rejuventation of confidence and momentum this tournament will have provided going into the rest of WCQ and the WC next summer.

    Slightly off topic, but does anybody know if the U.S. can challenge that HORRIBLE red card to FIFA?? The two English announcers I was listening to yesterday both said “It was a questionable yellow, and certainly not a straight red.” It’s really going to hurt not having Bradley available for the next game, which will likely be Brazil, again. If not, I suspect Feilhaber to be the most likely replacement.

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  5. Has anyone seen video of the crazy scorpion kick type thing Gooch used to clear out the ball by our goal? I can’t find it anywhere and I would love to see it again.

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  6. Can we please stop referencing a US 1-0 win in the finals? It was the semi-finals of the 98 Gold Cup, not the finals. In the finals we got blanked 2-0 by Mexico (I was there). That was the last time Mexico beat the US anywhere but Mexico, IIRC.

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  7. The goals weren’t really that pretty. But we’ll take them and try to do better next time.

    On the first it looked like the goalie was trying to deflect the ball wide of the net rather than punching but he mis-underestimated.

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  8. Altidore was awful except for the goal that was right at the keeper. If Casey was in earlier US wins 3-0 or 4-0.

    Posted by: Jimmy D’Hippo | June 25, 2009 at 12:53 AM

    everything you say is correct except that Casey would have done better. He’s awful and should never even sniff a usmnt jersey.

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  9. I am very glad for the win, but I do fear all of the possession and dominance that spain showed. We honestly got a couple of lucky counter attacks and Spain got more than a couple bad bounces. I don’t know if we will get that luck in the World Cup. Hopefully the team will keep improving.

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  10. …and The Gold Cup final over Brazil, well we are at home and were finalist too so not much of a surprise there, the 2-0 win over mexico was important but I was not surprised at all contrary to the ones mentioned above

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  11. The 1-0 victory over T&T has to be # 1 for its importance. The others are unlikely results. I guess the 1-0 victory over England in 1950 comes # 2; followed by the Portugal win, the Colombia win and then this one. Let’s keep in mind that it wasn’t a WC game or WC qualifying match.

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  12. arkjayback, good job with the video!

    I am still ecstatic about the improbable win. All I wanted from our guys is to fight with honor, and if we are to fall, then to “fall with style”.

    I’ve received a little bonus from them, like 2:0 win over still brilliant Spain, that Spain that is still a top contender for the WC2010 trophy, that Spain where any of the starting players would make any national team of any country (if they were so lucky to have them).

    Well done, guys. Thank you all.

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  13. arkjayback — really great video. You know, amid all the talk about how most of Spain’s players left the pitch immediately after the final whistle without shaking hands, it’s pretty telling which USA players earned the most respect from the Spanish players. In the post-game video, only DeMerit and Gooch are carrying around Spain jerseys. Those guys were absolute rocks in defense.

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  14. Jozy’s turn was great. What strength and commitment – stuff you can’t teach. His finish left much to be desired, but that’s the stuff you learn by playing every week. Let’s hope he finds the right team to be loaned to this year and logs tons of time. He can be a special striker for us for years.

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  15. Altidore is such a beast when he wants to be. I can’t wait to see him in three, four years with that much more experience under his belt.

    Let’s put this in some historical context: Was it the greatest win in U.S. soccer history?
    http://bit.ly/X4xqN

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  16. As a defender someone’s going to have to endure a crap storm for not knowing that Dempsey was right behind him on that second goal. Glad he spaced out there for a second, but the guy is going to get a lot of flak.

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  17. Great game by the US. Efficiency: 2-0 despite 9-29 in shots (great shot-blocking by the US)! Spain just did not think they would have to be 100% sharp to beat the US, although they should have been warned after Egypt. This happens to a team that became arrogant from too many deserved victories, and who decided to focus on Brazil, while taking the US for granted. A well deserved loss for Spain.

    But Spain is not a worse team than before, and they will come back stronger having learnt something about the pitfalls of taking things for granted. Still, I have a hard time believing they would have beaten Brazil in the final, but who knows? Brazil-USA? Brazil, unless they decide that they do not want to win. Success in Confed Cup has never spelt success in WC.

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  18. I could watch that Jozy goal a hundred times and not get tired of it. But looking at the replays, I can’t believe Iker didn’t get it. He is so rarely wrongfooted. And Ramos’s lazy defense was atrocious, although if you watch Real Madrid enough, you know that Ramos is wildly overrated as a defender outside of Spain.

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  19. our players have such class! not only on the pitch (giving out a hand to pick up a Spanish player, etc.) but off (Jozy high fiving locals. I won’t be surprised when, come next world cup, we’d have created a Muhammed Ali-fan base cuz of our performance tonight. (watch “When We Were Kings” to see what i’m referencing). at the least, maybe our lockers will be the only ones not robbed (unlike egypt, brazil) as a result.

    woo hoo! proud of our boys! played awesome, and with class!

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  20. arkjayback – nice video! couldn’t see the game here in japan,so it was nice to see a little more than just the goals

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  21. Great game, heart, desire, emotion, work ethic, luck, defense, defense, defense, Gooch, DeMerit, Speck, Boca…solid. Donovan MOTM, again. BB had a great gameplan. No doubt. I’ve been a serious detractor of his skills. He did well this game. I will watch this game again and again all summer. Great day for US Soccer.

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  22. Altidore was awful except for the goal that was right at the keeper. If Casey was in earlier US wins 3-0 or 4-0.

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  23. What a great day! I was so pumped up tonight I pulled out my US WC2002 DVD and watched it again for the 100th time.

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  24. The eyes of the country will be on the soccer team on Sunday. This is the most mainstream coverage I’ve seen for a soccer match in quite some time. Win or lose, give us all another performance to remember!

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  25. I had such a hard time even composing myself at work (thanks Ives for the commentary). With that kind of effort, we can compete with anyone in the world… anyone.

    It’s such a great feeling to be able to say “the U.S. won,” rather than “they put up a good fight” or “they played hard, but were unlucky” or “the ref screwed us big time” (we finally get a chance to put that one on the back burner).

    Hopefully this is the beginning of the Nats raising themselves to the level of play that we fans know they can be at.

    My buddy’s (a Mexico fan) text to me when it was over: “Dos a cero… Holy ****”

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  26. Watching the game right now. What a glorious win. I love that backline. Michael Bradley does so much around the field (ignoring the red)
    Just an amazing win

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  27. It’s an Austrian announcer. Very flat, but very dead on. Says Jozy cared as much about getting the yellow for pulling off her jersey as finding out some bicycle in China just fell over.

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  28. Jo-zee All-tee-doar-aaay?

    Is that Afrikaans?

    Awesome, just awesome. After the Brazil loss, I woke up the next morning and the first thing I thought about was the game and felt grumpy the whole day. I have a feeling tomorrow I’m going to wake up and have visions of Jozy and Clint scoring in my head – and feel just fantastic all day.

    U-S-A!!!

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