Confederations Cup - Del Bosque stunned by Spain loss

Eurosport - Thu, 25 Jun 11:54:00 2009

Spain were caught by surprise by the United States when the European champions lost 2-0 in the Confederations Cup semi-final, said coach Vicente del Bosque.

FOOTBALL 2009 Confederations Cup Benny Feilhaber of USA celebrates 2-0 win over Spain as Fernando Torres hides his face - 0

"They had huge energy, were very quick in attack and caught us by surprise," he said after the Americans set up a final clash with Brazil or hosts South Africa on Sunday.

Goals from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey ended Spain's world record run of 15 successive victories and their 35-match unbeaten sequence, a world record streak they share with Brazil.

"It's never good to lose, we are not used to losing any more," added Del Bosque.

"Every defeat hurts but we will now try to win our next game (Sunday's third place play-off) and then turn our attention to securing World Cup qualification."

Del Bosque was pleased with Spain's work rate and said all they lacked was decent finishing.

"We cannot be unhappy with our effort," he said. "We tried everything to win.

"Today we missed that final touch. We had many opportunities but they really closed the door for us.

"We have to accept this defeat but I believe we are still formulating a team that can go on strongly. We are at peace, even in defeat."

United States coach Bob Bradley said neutralising Spain midfielder Xavi was the key to their win.

The Barcelona playmaker was allowed little room to manoeuvre by a tigerish American side who reached their first major final.

"We made a special point to close down Xavi, trying to force him to play the ball square or behind him so that he couldn't play any of those penetrating passes he is so good at," Bradley said.

"We did a very good job of sealing down the middle of the field. When you play Spain you have to work hard as a group to defend and when we had the ball we needed to be aggressive."

Bradley paid special tribute to central defenders Jay DeMerit and Oguchi Onyewu, who thwarted a furious Spanish onslaught in the second half.

"To go from the first two games and concede six goals to the next two games and not concede any is a tremendous effort from everybody on the team," said Onyewu.

Goalkeeper Tim Howard added: "We are scratching our heads just like you guys are but it goes to show what hard work and commitment to each other can bring. Football is a funny thing.

"Any time you come away with a shock win you need to take your chances in front of goal and we defended like bandits. We rode our luck today."

Reuters

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  1. it happend because Spain wasn't interested in­ comfedarations cup!

    From asanishvilinikolozi, on Thu 25 Jun 10:20AM

  2. spagna zero titoli!!!e inghilterra!!1
    avete vinto solo­ un mondiale !!!noi 4 mondiali!!!!fatte tanto fumo­ niente arrosto!!!
    siete sotto di noi !!!!vi­ ricordo!!!po po po pooo!!!!!!!!!andiamo a berlino­ andiamo a berlino!!!!ha ha ha!!!siamo noi l­ europoa!!noi e la germania!!!totale 7 mondiali!!!voi­ inghilterra francia e portogallo francia 2­ mondiali!!!inghilterra rubato e francia hanno avuto un­ culo!!!!eh eh!!!avete una difesa che fa cagare!!1 82­ vinto all attacco paolo rossi!!e 2006 in­ difesa!!!abbiamo il migliore portiere al mondo!!e­ scusate vi ricordo che in 3 anni ne avete presso di­ battoste:)milan 2007 2008 avete vinto voi nel 2009­ barca!!1

    From dux forever, on Thu 25 Jun 10:12AM

  3. yes we can

    From Nelson, on Thu 25 Jun 10:03AM

  4. @Moussa: I agree over 1.5 of your three points. England­ lacks a keeper, dramatically. The dirty midfileder can­ be found, the problem there is that Lampard and Gerrard­ are fantastic but identical. The world class striker is­ there, his name is Rooney. Good enough triking partners­ are available: Heskey, Crouch. A good replacement is,­ however, inded missing. Still England COULD win the­ world cup. I just would like to make the points that­ there is NEVER a clear favourite - when there is one,­ like Brasil in 1998, France in 2002 or Argentina in­ 2006, they never wins the cup.

    From Giovanni T, on Thu 25 Jun 9:50AM

  5. I hear Barack Obama asked the players this question­ "Do you think you can qualify to the final?"­ and am told the players answered "YES WE­ CAN!". It was a semi final I never expected.­ Previously, I despised Egypt for allowing the "YES­ WE CAN! men beat them by 3 goals. My apologies to Egypt­ for my mistake. I have nothing to offer the YES WE CAN!­ boys than wishing them all the luck!

    From Geoffrey, on Thu 25 Jun 9:39AM

  6. so all the usa had to do was nutralise Xabi no metion­ of IMPOTENT FABREGAS i @#$%

    From Alex F, on Thu 25 Jun 9:37AM

  7. Oh, their slogan of "YES WE CAN" has given a­ bounty yield. When you do something with faith the­ result is always positive. I think be4 heading to S.A.,­ they passed through white house to borrow that Faith­ which they desperately needed, YES THEY'VE DONE!

    From eunice, on Thu 25 Jun 9:31AM

  8. No. 25. "Go one better and beat Brazil"? Are­ we ruling out SA already? I thought you made mention of­ football's "unpredictable­ glory"?

    From kruis321, on Thu 25 Jun 9:10AM

  9. No. 26. Have you ever heard the saying: "Chance­ favors the prepared mind"? If you are mentally­ strong, you will win. Luck fell of Spain's side­ throughout the game but they did not capitalize on it.­ There is a lot of psychology in soccer and that my­ friend, is what makes it so intriguing. Soccer is the­ best sport ever. Over 2 billion people can't be­ wrong.

    From kruis321, on Thu 25 Jun 9:08AM

  10. like somone mentioned, The only team that really gained­ from this match is spain, they were on a very long­ streak of not loosing a game, even setting a new record­ in winning streak. the loss in a competition like this­ of medium profile only makes the team realise that the­ are not invincible. This i believe will make them work­ harder and not be overconfident like Ramos was in the­ build up to the second goal. Fabregas and xavi were­ both guilty of not tracking back to help the defense.­ Senna was missed dearly. Mata and Riera lacked­ creativity and have to improve to be good replacements­ for silva and iniesta in thier absence.
    Long and­ short, Spain will obviously be more prepared for the­ world cup and will go quite far.

    From Charles, on Thu 25 Jun 8:44AM

  11. like somone mentioned, The only team that really gained­ from this match is spain, they were on a very long­ streak of not loosing a game, even setting a new record­ in winning streak. the loss in a competition like this­ of medium profile only makes the team realise that the­ are not invincible. This i believe will make them work­ harder and not be overconfident like Ramos was in the­ build up to the second goal. Fabregas and xavi were­ both guilty of not tracking back to help the defense.­ Senna was missed dearly. Mata and Riera lacked­ creativity and have to improve to be good replacements­ for silva and iniesta in thier absence.
    Long and­ short, Spain will obviously be more prepared for the­ world cup and will go quite far.

    From Charles, on Thu 25 Jun 8:43AM
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Football, Soccer or whatever it is called, sucks big­ time. Just imagine, Spain played the game against USA­ like Zambia against Algeria. Spain had 56% ball­ possession just like Zambia who had 58%, but both ended­ up conceding 2 goals each against their opponets. In­ football, apart from skill, you need a lot of luck and­ this is not fair!

    From Bernadette, on Thu 25 Jun 8:35AM

  13. For the 1st time in my life i found myself rooting for­ america, after they scored and it looked like the­ impossible could happen and did.......This game showed­ the beauty of football, in all its unpredictable­ glory......Now go 1 better and beat brazil :)

    From geaniejojo, on Thu 25 Jun 8:21AM
  14. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    see i told u,..open your eyes torres,.. as long u are­ with the scousers u will never develop to your full­ potential...time to mve on to a team that have a­ winning habit like mufc or barca

    From mr asruluveira, on Thu 25 Jun 8:15AM

  15. spain will never win the WC

    From Andrew, on Thu 25 Jun 8:13AM

  16. thumbs up to Obama's boys. the spanish were only­ able to qualify for the semis bcoz of the weak group­ they played in with the likes of New Zealand and Iraq.­ Torres actually had only one shot on goal in 90 minutes

    From Andrew, on Thu 25 Jun 8:06AM

  17. After years of weak defense, the US finally has some­ tenacious players to support their legacy of great goal­ keepers. Spain played strongly and kept the ball in­ the US end most of the time, but in the end the­ defensive work was overpowering. That, and being­ prepared to take advantage of opportunities in front of­ the goal when they arose gave the US the­ win.

    Kickball??? I think not. It was good football

    From Luu, on Thu 25 Jun 7:46AM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    1) spain are unbeaten for 4 years because they play­ football. no kickball like USA .
    2) this loss is­ beacause Del Bosque did not set up his team right.­ Fabregas should not EVER EVER be on the right side­ midfield.AND after he was substituted Spain had no more­ control of the game. He leaves Alonso in instead!?­ because he is a great offensive threat..yeah .
    one­ thing is forsure once Iniesta is back Spain will be at­ it's best!
    cheers

    From LegendDB, on Thu 25 Jun 7:19AM

  19. well think it just shows you never can predict a­ football result well done usa and well bad luck spain­ think they thought like everyone they now be holding­ the record for the best run without loseing a game 36­ but not to be

    From mickyboy, on Thu 25 Jun 7:15AM

  20. lets just say that no teams can be beaten.bet on USA­ winning and got my cash man.

    From yong hoe p, on Thu 25 Jun 6:18AM
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