After improbable circumstances helped land the United States into the Confederations Cup semifinals against Spain on Wednesday, there was no way that U.S. could actually pull off a victory against the unstoppable force that was the Spanish side. Somehow though, they pulled it off, scoring goals when they had the chances and playing lockdown defense to earn a 2-0 victory over Spain.A week ago, I had said that with the way the United States was playing, they were still a long way from finding any sort of success at next year's World Cup. Um, wrong. In the last four days, the U.S. has outscored Egypt and Spain 5-0, looking like a completely different team than the one that played Italy and Brazil at the beginning of this tournament. This is the kind of soccer the United States should be playing at this point in their development. While they are clearly not better than Spain, they still can beat the world's top teams when they play their best soccer, and there's nothing wrong with that at this point.
The win will pit the U.S. against the winner of Brazil/South Africa for the finals of the Confederations Cup, which would be a huge get for the United States. By beating Spain, they could definitely beat either team that they would have to face on Sunday, but either way, a successful tournament for the United States.
More on the U.S. soccer team's play in the Confederations Cup can be found in the Thursday edition of Winks Thinks.
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