With the Confederations Cup in action, I took a look back at arguably the US' best victory in international competition (head's up - this is a longer read): https://andthenthehex.wordpress.com/2017/06/23/when-the-us-solved-a-spanish-puzzle/ A few stray thoughts here: 1) All of the following were true: The competition was ROUGH in this tournament. Brazil and Italy were top-5 teams in the world. We looked terrible in the first two games. We totally back-doored our was to the Spain game Despite all that, we looked lively for most of the first half 2) The second half is more of what I remembered. This was essentially our second-best attack that half: 3) Had OPTA chalboards been around, Onyewu, DeMerit, and Clark defensive actions would have blocked-out our entire 18. All three repeatedly won headers, made diving interventions, and made last-ditch tackles. 4) Donovan, Dempsey, and Bradley all expended a TON of energy in this game. 45 minutes of chasing against the best team in the world isn't possible with that commitment from midfield. 5) Both goals were as fun to watch as I remembered. Enjoy!
I remember t I remember how silly it was of Jozy to remove his jersey in celebration and earn a yellow. And JP must have said "deflection" a hundred times.
When we won that game, we were the "unofficial" World Cup holders. That's if the World Championships was treated like a boxing belt. Its held by a nation until they lose a match, and then its passed on to the winner. Believe it or not, the unofficial world cup holders right now are Bolivia after they upset Argentina in a recent WCQer. Its been in South America for a while passed between Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina recently. http://www.ufwc.co.uk/
Such a great memory that game is. That tournament was without a doubt the toughest set of games the US has ever faced. In order: ELO #5 Italy; #2 Brazil, #32 (African Champs) Egypt; #1 Spain; #1 Brazil. The 225 minutes encompassing the Egypt game, the Spain game, and the first half vs Brazil are arguably some of best soccer the US has ever played. The 360 minutes sandwiched around the disappointing Poland game at the 2002 Cup are the other top contenders for best US performances. One quibble. I don't think the US looked terrible for much of the Italy game. I think we were actually playing rather well until the red card. Playing down a man for about half the game vs Italy was always going to be tough. Wasn't that also the Rossi game? The US was pretty awful in the second game vs Brazil and it was the first time that I recall doubting Bob Bradley's leadership of the team, fearing he had lost the locker room. The US played lights out vs Egypt, and then got some help from #2 ranked Brazil vs Italy, to set up the reason for this thread...
Totally agree on the ELO differential...just a brutal lineup. Egypt showed well, too, obviously beating Italy, and nearly drawing 3-3 with Brazil until the 90th minute PK. Their capitulation was a surprise. Italy was indeed the Rossi game. Regarding Bradley and Brazil, I remember reading this EXCELLENT retrospective of the US team during the Bradley tenure that I couldn't find for the article. I think it was on ESPN.com, but that article featured Dempsey and Bradley having a conversation on how to generate more attacking firepower. I remember this predicated the shift to the 4-2-2-2 shape with Donovan and Dempsey.
Such a memorable tournament as a USMNT fan. We went from most likely going home early to nearly winning it. Rossi scoring against us was a gut punch, beating Spain felt on top of the world, and taking a 2-0 lead on Brazil thinking we had a chance to actually win it all but coming short in the 2nd half. I'll never forget Dempsey accepting the awards while crying cause we lost in the final. It really was a roller coaster of emotions tournament and hit me in the feels as a fan. I made my account here right after the 2009 confeds cup.
To this day, the importance of Charlie Davies can be seen from the beginning of the Egypt game to the end of the first half of the Brazil Final. the USMNT counter-attack became deadly. He was able to run the channels with his speed, head the ball, hold the ball up with both his superb body strength from his wrestling days and a good first touch, but most importantly also be a serious threat threat towards goal. This new space davies created allowed Donovan to take his game to his zenith. Davies goal vs Egypt, to this day, might be one of the most under-rated intelligent goals in USMNT history.
2009 was the transition from the thin US squads of the 2000s to the much deeper teams of the 2010s. The quality at the top shone through: 1. Howard - immense against Spain and Brazil 2. Guzan - passed a huge test against Egypt 3. DeMerit, Onyewu, and Bocanegra - defended stoutly with their backs to the wall; I think the 2010s center backs have been superior, but this trio is emblematic of US defending in the modern era. 4. Spector - also defended stoutly; 2009 was his undoubted peak for the US, it all went wrong after that season at left back for West Ham in 2009-2010. 5. Donovan, Dempsey, and Bradley - combined technical skill and incredible box-to-box coverage. This may have been Donovan's greatest tournament, this is where Dempsey began to break out as the best US goalscorer of all time, while Bradley cemented his central midfield spot for the next decade. 6. Altidore - displayed ferocious physicality and desire 7. Davies - broke through like a lightning bolt in this tournament for 5 months of glory. 8. Feilhaber and Clark - these Bob Bradley favorites came up huge 9. Bornstein - this Bob Bradley favorite did not have a good tournament, IMO, though he redeemed himself in 2010. 10. Beasley - 2009 was the nadir of Beasley's cycle of injuries, poor form and the bench in the Bob Bradley era after November 2007. 11. Kljestan - another player that was in poor form. 12. Casey - in limited minutes, he was surprisingly effective. Happily, he earned his moment of glory in a Honduran night in mid-October. 13. Robles, Califf, Wynne, and Pearce - never got a sniff of the field in this tournament. 14. Adu and Torres - the tournament post-mortems, including from people like me, centered around the 0 minutes for these two, but Bob Bradley's hesitance looks a little better in retrospect. I suspect that Bradley felt that neither had the pace or physicality that was required, especially at 2-2 late against Brazil in a FIFA final. What the final showed, IMO, is that the US could survive an injury or a red card to anybody but Donovan, Dempsey, or Bradley. BB could cobble together a starting XI without one of them, but the bench would be bare as bones. Also worth mentioning is that Spain had everybody there except Iniesta and Senna (who was phased out anyway), while the Brazil team that beat the US might have been the last great Brazil team in recent years: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Luisao, Andre Santos (Dani Alves), Gilberto Silva, Felipe Melo, Ramires (Elano), Kaka, Robinho, Luis Fabiano That group faded drastically after 2010, but there are a bunch of players there who had just won or were about to win a ton of trophies. The only player that doesn't fit in with this group is Andre Santos.
And his role in Donovan's Brazil goal (not only one of my favorite US goals of all time, but one of the best pieces of counterattacking soccer I've ever seen) was immeasurable. Literally a picture-perfect run and touch.
DeMerit and Onyewu were world class against Spain. Among the best games the US ever played. THE Spanish wanted to win
Dempsey was fantastic in this match, with a goal and assist against the Euro champs and eventual world champs. The US seemed to play without pressure in this game.
Donovan could have had 3 assists against Italy in addition to his goal. Before the red card, he put chances on a platter for Altidore and Bradley, and in the last 5 minutes, he put a corner kick right on the forehead of a completely unmarked Davies, who headed over from about 6 yards (would have tied the game).
Davies and Altidore complemented each other well. Altidore, despite his size, was never an aerial outlet or back-to-goal striker. Though shorter, Davies looked comfortable checking back and holding up play as the highest reference point. Coupled with his pace, it made for a new dynamic within the US attack, and I think Altidore is still at his best playing off another striker (Giovinco with club, Wood with country.) Bradley tried to replicate this with Finldey and Cunningham leading up to the World Cup, but even at the World Cup, we were better served with Feilhaber as an extra distributor in midfield.
Great post. Having watched the game a few times again, Spain was crying out for a healthy Iniesta to connect the lines alongside Xavi and unlock the defense. And that Brazil side...I still think if that Kaka's shot goes in against Holland to make it 2-0, they might have beat Spain in the final. It certainly would have been a better game!
I certainly feel that the win against Spain was our greatest international result. (So far! I’m always keeping the faith for something bigger.) I guess 1950 vs England comes close. I was pretty sure that the Spain win would top out in terms of Elo points gained. Imagine my surprise when it didn’t. So I did some digging and prepared this Top 10 list for y’all. Semi-spoiler: we have had some great results on Uruguayan soil! Without further ado, our 10 biggest wins (per Elo points gained, courtesy of eloratings.net): 10. +45 July 29, 1984 USA-CRC 3-0 Olympic Games 9. +48 July 13, 1930 USA-BEL 3-0 World Cup 8. +49 July 5, 1991 USA-MEX 2-0 Concacaf Championship 7. +54 October 19, 1992 USA-CIV 5-2 Intercontinental Cup 6. +55 July 30, 1999 USA-GER 2-0 Confederations Cup 5. +57 June 29, 1950 USA-ENG 1-0 World Cup 4. +58 June 17, 2002 USA-MEX 2-0 World Cup 3. +60 July 17, 1930 USA-PAR 3-0 World Cup 2. +64 June 24, 2009 USA-ESP 2-0 Confederations Cup ... and the one you've been waiting for ... 1. +70 July 14, 1995 USA-ARG 3-0 Copa America ~OGx3
I agree, Mr. Martin. I remember being stunned when we went into the locker room up 2-0 on Brazil in the final. If only Bob hadn't come out in the second half playing to protect our lead. In my mind, our loss to Germany in the quarterfinal of the '02 World Cup may have been the best performance I've seen from the USMNT.