USA 2 Spain 0

Wow.

The team I saw barely show up against Brazil would have lost this game 5-0. For that matter, the team I saw against Brazil would have lost to Egypt as well. Just getting to this game took a complete 180 from that Brazil game, but then the US took it about 20 more steps in downing Spain 2-0, setting up a rematch with Brazil, who made them look like a U8 team about a week ago.

Now, the upset over Spain definitely featured a lot of lucky breaks for the US, and any win over Brazil would need a similar bout of luck to smile on the Americans, but what the US showed (and what the US needed to show in this tournament) was that yes, this team can play with the elite teams of the world and can get results against them. In 3 games against the top teams, the US has 1 excellent showing with a good result (Spain), 1 good showing without the result (Italy), and 1 abominable showing with no result (Brazil). A good showing, even without the result, would really put a nice ribbon on this tournament experience, but this tournament has to be considered a success even without that.

One final note: hopefully their good showing at this tournament will gain the US some respect with the referees, as yet again against a good team the US was the victim of a very soft red card, which takes Michael Bradley out of the lineup for the Brazil game.