U.S. Headed to the Semis?
Article By Drew Frey
Davies, Bradley & Dempsey all Score U.S. Goals
Playing in the ‘Group of Death,’ losing to Italy and Brazil by two and three goals respectfully and having surly packed their bags for their flight home, the Americans advance to the Semi-Finals of the Confederations Cup.
Against absolutely all odds, the Americans needed to beat Egypt by three goals while the Italians also had to lose by three.
With his first start since January, Charlie Davies scored in the 20’ with an all out scramble in front of the net. Essam El Hadary, the Egyptian keeper, collided with the knee of his defender Ahmed Fathi while trying to stop Davies, that resulted in a nasty cut to the top of his head. To add insult to injury (literally) Davies goal took a deflection off of El Hadary’s head before ending up in the back of the net.
1st Goal:
The second goal came courtesy of Michael Bradley, the perfect gift for his dad Bob on Father’s Day no less, in the 63’ off of a great counter and precise cross from Landon Donovan.
2nd Goal:
(Bradley is so excited he just down!)
No more then 7’ later in the 70’ Jonathan Spector hit Clint Dempsey with a fantastic cross of topnotch quality. I don’t think Mr. David Beckham himself would scoff at it! Dempsey did the rest and put the perfectly placed cross just inside the left post.
3rd Goal:
After the match, Dempsey had this to say: “We knew it was going to be a tough game,” said Dempsey. “The odds were against us and the chances of us going through were slim. All we could control was ourselves. Credit to all the guys and the coaching staff. We worked hard this whole tournament so far and believed in ourselves. Now it’s time to refocus and get ready for Spain.”
So amazingly the U.S. moved from dead last to second place in the group and will go head to head against the #1 World Ranked and European champion Spanish side this Wednesday. The Americans need to be pumping on all cylinders and try to replicate the performance against Egypt to match the quality of Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas, David Villa and Fernando Torres.
No matter the result of Wednesday’s match, the Americans will be playing on Sunday in the final game of the Confederations Cup. Sunday’s game will be a consolation game for 3rd place.
“It’s gonna be fun,” the American captain said. “It’s a good team, a very good team, but we’re not willing to write it off and say it’s a loss. We’re gonna go for it.”
