So, any of you watched the Confed Cup final?

[jfrost]

I know Americans don't care about it, but it seems to have gotten quite a bit of mainstream coverage. Shit, that was a good game. Awesome comeback for Brazil.

I was so pissed with the Brazilian team most of the time. I'm still feeling kinda stressed. The US team showed some nice football (or soccer, or what have you).

Any of you followed the match?

[toredauei]

shit I seriously meant to watch it... you mean the US was actually in the lead at some point... you mean the US actually scored a goal?! sounds like it was a pretty good match I wish I hadnt missed it.

[jfrost]

The US scored two goals in the first half, going on half time by 2-0. First goal was a cross into the box that ended on the feet of Dempsey, the second one was a really good counter-attack by Landon Donovan. The dude ran the entire field, dribbled the Brazilian marker and scored.

Brazil then had to come back at second half, which it did.

[ZeroAX]

wow you beat spain and gave brazil a run for it's money. good stuff usa. think football will see some love in the us now?

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

I'd heard us Americans had done something amazing during some futbol/football/soccer match, but didn't think much of it as the sport gets next to no coverage in the states.

I have been wanting to get into the sport though, it's just hard to enjoy it when all the matches are on Univision (Spanish channel, which I find annoying even though I'm fluent in the language), or some channel outside of our basic cable package.

EDIT: Fixed misspellings.

[jfrost]

Oh, the amazing thing the US team had done was beating Spain.

Spain entered the tournament on high heels, coming from a 35 games undefeated streak and a 15 games winning streak, #1 on FIFA ranking. The US got through the first round miraculously, and ironically, with the help of Brazil.

The two first results of the first round were USA 0-3 Brazil and USA 1-3 Italy. So, by the third (and last) game, the only way for the US to go through was if it beat Egypt by 3 goals of difference and if Brazil beat Italy equally by three goals (Italy had won against the US but lost 1-0 to Egypt. Brazil had won the first two matches, 4-3 on Egypt).

So, if the US won against Egypt, Italy, Egypt and the USA would be equal at three points. However, Egypt would go on, by goal differential. Then Brazil beat Italy (the last WC champions) by 3-0 and the US beat Egypt by 3-0, exactly what was needed to come on top of both Italy's and Egypt's differential.

On the second round, the US went against Spain, who perhaps thought the game would be a walk in the park. However, Americans played really well, with a compact defense and scored on the few opportunities they had. 2-0.

Then, the US went on to face Brazil again at the finals. And this time was not like in the first round. In the first game, the US team was simply dismantled. Now they played properly.

[Erik_Twice]

Meh, the Spaniards were lazy as fuck and didn't even care when they were clearly losing. The US deserved to win.

[toredauei]

wow you beat spain and gave brazil a run for it's money. good stuff usa. think football will see some love in the us now?

Unfortunately no, I think even if the US wins the world cup in 2010 (now a possibility? ) the majority of americans will still not care about soccer/futbol/football whatever.

[jfrost]

Meh, the Spaniards were lazy as fuck and didn't even care when they were clearly losing. The US deserved to win.

Oh, yeah, they just passed the ball around like they were winning. By 30', the team was desperate, with good reason.

[JordanPlayer]

I watched it... and boy was I pissed when the US lost it at the end (luckily I have a pretty sturdy remote ) US played as good as they could have the first half, but man did they stink up the second half. It just looked like they didn't come out prepared, or with enough energy, to hold on to the game from the get go. They were sluggish and didn't close fast enough which is why the Brazilians got open and scored their goals... mark the on the back post! Brazil is a great team and you have to put forth the energy to stop them or they'll mop the floor with any team. I'm happy with what the US did the last few games of the cup, but they let a golden opportunity slip away.