The United States soccer team may have a limited number of famous moments throughout their history with the Ladies team outshining them but you can bet the US fans wore their soccer jerseys with pride on Monday. Going into the final group game on Sunday night, America sat bottom of the table and requiring a six goal swing to leapfrog the Italians and Egypt to gain second place in Confederations Cup Group B. Brazil were guaranteed their place at the top of the table but the final qualification place was up for grabs between all three sides but most people believed the tussle to be between the Italians and Egypt.
Italy, wearing a one off soccer uniforms for the tournament which commemorated the 1930s Italian side which triumphed at World Cups (and forgetting anything else which is associated Italy and the 1930s), looked strongly out of date and were swiftly swept aside by a rampant Brazil side. The magic of the Brazilian soccer outfit still catches the breath and as they raced into a 3-0 half-time lead, news started to filter through to the US team. The Americans were already one goal up and knew that if the Brazil Italy game remained as it was, they needed to add two more goals to take second place. Egypt’s goalkeeper may have performed miracles in shutting out Italy in his previous match but he was floundering here as the Americans got their two goals and sealed an amazing comeback that very few would have predicted beforehand.
Hopefully the US fans will savour their triumph because the semi-final match they have secured is going to be very tough. Spain are looking to be the form team at the moment and are currently ranked as the top international side in the world. The Spanish are another unit wearing a new soccer kit for this tournament and if they continue to play they way they have been doing, they are likely to sell a lot of shirts as fans everywhere rush to get names like Villa, Torres, Puyol, Xavi and Piquet on the back of their kit. In all likelihood, Spain will triumph against their American opponents to book a final spot but its already shown how dangerous it is to write off this American team. They will be the underdogs but if the Spaniards attitude isn’t right, they may just find themselves on the wrong side of another upset.
The other semi-final also provides a match up where one team begins as heavy favourite but host nation South Africa, and their noisy fans, will be delighted to have made it through the group stages. The players may be more focussed on swapping their soccer uniforms with the famous Brazilian players at the end of the match but hopefully they will be able to give a good account of themselves and maybe give their fans something else to cheer.
It’s looking like a Brazil versus Spain final, allowing the iconic red and gold soccer jerseys to take their place in the final but the Confederations Cup has already pulled out a number of shocks so far and they may not have finished yet.
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