A Win For the Ages

Yesterday, the red, white, and blue of America stepped onto Free State Stadium in South Africa about to play one of the biggest games of their lives. And boy, did they come to play. Bob Bradley's lineup had a very attacking and aggressive look to it. Up front, the USA had the best of both worlds with Charlie Davies and Jozy Altidore. Davies, a quick and skillful striker had a fantastic games yesterday, especially in the first 15 or 20 minutes. Jozy Altidore showed why he should be starting every game for the national team. In the 25th minute, Altidore, with back to goal muscled off Spain defender Joan Capdevila and buried one off kepper Iker Casillas' hand, and into the net. The USA led 1-0 at halftime. In the second half, Spain were definitely the dominate team. Tim Howard was spectacular, making save after save. Commentators John Harkes and JP Dellacamera couldn't remember such a time when a keeper was under so much pressure. Howard, was fantastic nut the defense was just out of this world. Oguchi Onyewu must have literally blocked 7 or 8 shots. Jay Demerit and John Spector also had fantastic defensive games. The whole team was going all out, throwing themselves in front of shots to block them, and clearing the ball well. The hard work payed off in the 74th minute, when Benny Feilhaber made a fantastic run and played a ball to Landon Donovan on the wing. Donovan crossed the ball in and it went to the far post after a deflection. The ball came right to Sergio Ramos's feet. Not knowing Dempsey was behind him, Ramos hesitated, and Dempsey took adavantage. GOAL!!!!! 2-0 USA and they looked like they were going to the finals. When the final whistle blew, the lads were going crazy, jumping on eachother, and showing so much joy. They really deserved to win. They were the better team. They were the first non- European team to beat Spain since Argentina did it in 1999. They also broke Spain's 459 minute shutout streak, and there 15 game-winning streak. This was only the second time in history that the USA beat a Fifa #1 ranked team. Congrats to the lads and good luck in the finals.