Eating Crow, Part 2?

Who want to sex Dempsey?

Honestly, I’m not sure that Bushman and I are eating crow this morning. We weren’t wrong about how the U.S. had been playing. In hindsight, I would have written everything the same.

Did we expect the win yesterday? Nope, not at all. But neither did anyone who looked at this game without bias. And no, John Harkes isn’t in that group.

With that said, all the congratulations in the world to Bob Bradley and his team. Yesterday was one of those days why we love sports. It’s when the unexpected happens and those kind of upsets makes suffering through multiple poor outings worthwhile in the end.

Like Bushman, a smile was plastered on my face for the balance of the day.

Watching the game it was like seeing a completely different team. Clint Dempsey has been a different player the last two games, as if his beard has brought new life to a guy who was nearly invisible in the first two losses. Carlos Bocanegra reappeared and went the full 90 at left back, a spot pundits (like the jackasses at My 2 Cents) have been clamoring for. Tim Howard took back goalkeeping duties from Brad Guzan and made huge saves all night.

Tactically, Spain played right into the hands of what the U.S. (seemingly) wanted them to do. The wings were wide open all night, as they have been all tournament, but the Yanks wanted to force their counterparts to go wide and cross, a weakness for Spain and a strength for the U.S. When they came through the middle, specifically with Xavi, the midfield did a good job of shutting down other options. Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark have forged a nice pairing in the middle of the park and had a largely invisible performance defensively which is exactly what you want. Of course Bradley finally was sent off -- as a former fellow Goal.commer told me “who had Bradley and a red in three games? I had one” -- for the weakest of the three reds the U.S. has been shown, that went out the window and makes things for Sunday even more difficult.

I noted to Bushman with about 20 minutes left in the game that it was almost like watching the Indianapolis Colts with the ball at the 5-yard line. There just wasn’t enough room for them to effectively use their weapons. However, it’s also interesting that Spain never shot from distance as ESPN’s gamecast shows. It would have seemed to me they would have tried some long-range shots to see if they could open up the defense a bit more, especially after Howard was beaten by that bomb from Rossi last week and has looked shaky on longer shots recently.

The center duo of Onyewu and DeMerit might be better than Onyewu and Bocanegra, even if that is sacrilegious to say. When Gooch and Boca pair, it seems like one is on and the other if off, and there’s rarely a game where they are both at their best. DeMerit and Gooch, however, have been spot on all tournament. I will say one thing about Onyewu though: he’s like the Dwight Howard of the national team. Gooch has blocked everything coming into the center; however, like “Superman” it’s rarely back to a teammate. I understand a lot of times the ball has to be knocked out for safety, but there are too many times that Gooch needlessly surrenders possession and puts the U.S. on the back foot again. But things have played out in his favor as he looks for a new contract, assuming the Fenerbache deal hasn’t been signed at this point.

Charlie Davies has also done himself a world of good in the past two games. He’s looking for a transfer from Hammarby to a bigger club and should see one with his effort the past two games. I think he’s also shown he needs to be on the field for the Nats, perhaps at the long-term expense of Brian Ching. Ching still will have a spot, but I see it as a sub role to help kill the game off, an area the U.S. could have used some help in, as Conor Casey is not the answer there.

Donovan has probably had the best tournament of anyone in a U.S. shirt. If he really does want to leave this winter, like the previous two guys his stock has jumped significantly. Playing out wide is certainly where he’s best for the Yanks and his fitness is unparalleled on the team.

Lastly, again congrats to Bob Bradley. I still have issues -- what the hell did Torres do to you? -- but you’ve done exceptionally well in the past two games. As Bushman said, that performance yesterday is what we expect from the USA, but haven’t seen for sometime. I’m saddened it took this much criticism to put a collective chip on your team’s shoulder, and for that we will take some of the credit for yesterday’s win, but you rallied the troops and got a bigger win than Bruce Arena ever did. I hope you smiled for more than five seconds in celebration Bob

Now bring on the finals. Lightning can strike twice, right?

- Pat Walsh