A little soccer

First there was the miracle on ice. The 1980 Olympic upset over the state supported Soviet ice hockey team by the amateur U.S. squad was the biggest upset in the history of American international sports.

Yesterday the American soccer team came close to topping it. Here's the story:

For some reason FIFA holds a strange international competition called the "Confederations Cup" as a "tuneup" for the World Cup, which is played more than a year later. It is not currently known by this blogger how one qualifies for the "Confederations Cup". But it includes 8 teams, two groups of 4, that play each other once. Two teams from each group advance to the final round. For some reason this year the Confederations Cup was played in South Africa.

The first group was rigged to propel the South African team into the final round. S.A., New Zealand, and Iraq would presumably play for second place in the group. The predetermined winner was Spain, the #1 ranked team in the world, the reigning European champion, undefeated since 2006, riding a 15 game winning streak, which was the longest in the history of international competition, and owners of a 35 match unbeaten streak, which was tied with Brazil for the longest ever. The feeling was that South Africa would manage second place and reach the next round, thereby selling more tickets to the semifinals, in which they would be crushed by either Italy or Brazil.

Yes in the second group the U.S. found themselves pitted against both Italy and Brazil, winners of three of the last 4 World Cups. This group was rigged to prevent the U.S. from reaching the final round, as is often the case in international competitions. By all accounts the U.S. is at least a step ahead of South Africa, so they should have been in Spain's group. Egypt rounded out the fab 4.

In the first group, Spain blew everyone away. South Africa managed a win against New Zealand to reach the semis. Neither Iraq nor N.Z. were able to score a goal.

But the second group was wild. Egypt scored 3 goals against Brazil and still lost 4-3. And just like in the World Cup, in which the USA was the only team Italy played that the Italians could not defeat, the US struck first and went to halftime with a lead. But, just like in the World Cup, the U.S. mysteriously had a man sent off, were reduced to 10 men, and suffered a defeat 3-1. Little did the Italians know, they would need more help from friendly referees and would not receive it, losing a 1-0 shocker against Egypt, in what was that country's greatest soccer upset in their history. The U.S. was smoked by Brazil, Brazil beat Italy, and that set up a match between the U.S. and Egypt. The Italian champions would have to hope for a U.S. victory of only a goal. But unlike the Italians, the U.S. had no trouble carving up Egypt's defense, scoring three, securing a spot in the semis, and ousting Italy in the process.

The semis would pit the U.S. against Spain, while Brazil would be allowed to feast on South Africa. And that's when the miracle on grass happened. The U.S. rocked Spain for a goal in the first half. And as the Spanish desperately tried to tie the score, surely flopping and pleading and begging for an American red card, the U.S. struck again, devastating the opposition and sending the humbled Spaniards trudging off the grass, defeated, their streak cut short at the hands of the Americans.

Until we develop a professional soccer tradition of our own in America the European soccer establishment will never respect the American team, even if it has tremendous success. That's why it's so fun to watch us shock them year after year. The Europeans will always be shocked, because it's going to take them so long to acknowledge the truth. And the truth is that the U.S. is a soccer power.