U.S. Soccer wins one for the ages

Facing a team ranked first in the world and undefeated since 2006, most people expected the U.S. national soccer team to lose handily to Spain in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup. But the Americans had different plans, as they used goals from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey to defeat the Spanish 2-0 on Wednesday night in South Africa.

Altidore scored in the 27th minute and Dempsey added a goal later on in the 74th to lead the Americans to victory over a Spanish team that last lost to Romania in November of 2006. The win over the top ranked Spanish team allows the U.S. to continue an improbable run to the title game, which seemed nearly impossible just a week ago. After losing its first two games of the eight-team tournaments to Italy and Brazil, the Americans were on the brink of elimination, as they faced Egypt.

However, after a well-played game in which the U.S. won 3-0, they still needed Italy to lose by three goals to Brazil. Luckily for Bob Bradley and company, Brazil did in fact beat Italy 3-0, allowing the Americans to advance to the semi-finals against Spain.

With Wednesday’s victory over Spain, the U.S. is scheduled to play the winner of Thursday’s match between defending champion Brazil and host South Africa on Sunday in their first-ever men’s Confederations Cup final. It’s safe to say the U.S. is quite excited about their run to the title game.

“It’s exciting, a great team effort. To beat an amazing team like Spain and make the final, it’s big,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. “We played as hard as we could and that’s what it took. Every guy contributed, so it’s a very good feeling…We’re so excited about this”