‘Soccer rocks’ in US after shock victory over Spain

LOS ANGELES/WASHINGTON - Football made rare headlines in the US after the national team beat Spain 2-0 in the Confederations Cup to reach the first FIFA men’s final in its history.

At the game played in Bloemfontein’s Free State Stadium Wednesday, the US claimed what has been called their biggest football victory ever. Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey scored in either half for the US, who snapped Spain’s winning streak at 15 matches and unbeaten run at 35 games.

“This win is huge for American soccer,” said man of the match Dempsey. “This is our first time to be in the final of a major competition, so obviously we’re thrilled.”

Many US newspapers called the shock result “the miracle on grass” - referring to the US hockey team’s upset defeat of the Soviet Union in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, a victory referred to as “the miracle on ice.”

ESPN commentator Jim Rome, whose baseball and basketball analysis show followed the live broadcast of the game from South Africa, was almost lost for words, as he introduced his programme. “Whew,” he told his audience, “soccer rocks.”

From the New York Times to Yahoo to the Los Angeles Times, newspapers and websites across the country plastered news of the success prominently. The Times said it was “probably the greatest victory ever by the men’s national soccer team,” and noted that the “inequity” of the teams’ pedigree made the victory even more of a spectacle.

More importantly, the paper pointed out, the victory may well persuade FIFA to improve the US seeding prior to the World Cup draw Dec 4. “This was not the World Cup, but it was an important tournament in the march toward 2010,” said the Times.

Alexie Lalas, a member of the 1994 US World Cup team, said that Wednesday’s win gave him hope going in to the World Cup. “You’ve got to be proud - it’s a good old fashioned American soccer team,” he said.

Alan Black of the San Francisco Chronicle was a little more poetic. “Spain, the royalty of the world soccer empire, had their crown knocked off by a gutsy bunch of Yanks, unwilling to bend the knee to soccer kings,” he wrote.

“What we saw today was a foreshadowing. At some point in the future, the USA will be the best soccer team in the world, and win the World Cup. That will be the day when an extra star could be added to the flag, the star of the ‘international’ state.”

For fan Chris Hoene, 38, of Washington, it was an amazing game, “one of the top four or five games for us.”

“You make it to the final, you advance out of a group with Brazil and Italy, and then beat Spain when they’re number one?” said Todd Turner, 34, who watched the game with Hoene at an ESPNZone bar in the US capital. “It helps them get a seed in next year’s World Cup.”

“Yeah, we got the shaft on that last time,” Hoene said, shaking his head. “We won, like, nine straight games against Mexico and finished the second seed in our region.”

The US team was eliminated from the 2006 World Cup after losing to Ghana and the Czech Republic and drawing with Italy.

Hoene said the US team had made an impressive showing so far, despite not having much practice together.

“They got better every game,” Hoene said. “They haven’t played together a lot, and the first two games were a little rough. The third game was way better, the fourth game was way better… it shows that they’re learning how to play together.”

Turner said the upcoming Gold Cup could be another coup for the Americans. “Our team could win that… we’ve definitely got momentum” for the World Cup and the upcoming qualifier at Azteca Stadium in Mexico, Turner said.

Aaron Ingham, 21, of Pennsylvania, hoped Wednesday’s win would finally draw greater interest from US fans.

“Not a lot of Americans really get up and care about how the team is doing, especially getting ready for the World Cup… hopefully this will rally a bit of support,” he said.

The excitement spilled over the border into neighbouring Canada. “I’m very fortunate to get paid to commentate on and talk about this wonderful sport, but I am almost speechless at what I witnessed in the first semi-final of the FIFA Confederations Cup,” noted Nigel Reed of the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

“How could a team which lost its opening two games and was seemingly on the next flight out of Johannesburg make it all the way to the final at the expense of the European champions,” he said.

It was not only the professional pundits who were gushing. Sofia Lepore, a 12-year-old goalie, watched the game live with her friends on summer vacation. “Our coach always tells us to stick to the game plan, try our best and never give up, That’s what the US team did today,” she said. “It was amazing.”