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

Comment 1 - 15 of 55

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  1. Algojo,
    WC2010 is between Brazil or England ? Brazil­ yes. But why put England there?
    England lacks three­ things:
    1. A World class keeper like Casillas,­ Buffon
    2. A dirty working midfielder like Senna,­ Macherano, Gattuso
    3. A world class striker
    I dont see­ England go pass teams like France, Germany let alone ­ Spain, Brazil and Argentina.

    From Moussa, on Thu 25 Jun 5:48AM

  2. to davemackay77 and Moussa....
    even though Spain­ includes Iniesta & Senna...they will not win World­ Cup....
    WC2010 is between Brazil or England !!!!

    From Algojo, on Thu 25 Jun 5:07AM

  3. spain suck15x. They played boringg­ passing-passing-passing just like barca'....Barca­ better beware....
    nxt season you will win­ nothing...Kaka' & Ronaldo will tore you nxt­ season !!!!

    From Algojo, on Thu 25 Jun 4:59AM

  4. shows that partnership torres n villa in liverpool will­ not work!!!

    From iLL Best, on Thu 25 Jun 4:58AM

  5. it was good that spain lost. if they'd continue­ winning they'd end up like france. france had also­ a long streak after the WC 1998 but ended up with a­ very disapointing WC 2002

    From jingweiliu1, on Thu 25 Jun 3:40AM

  6. Great job USA....they have been developing quite well­ recently and are underestimated by most..
    Although I­ feel for spain, I think will only help them to be­ stronger in world cup...this would have surely happened­ to them in the world cup if it was not for this­ result...

    Not that I want them to win, but cant help­ thinking that this result will only help them

    From anand d, on Thu 25 Jun 3:07AM

  7. Del Bosque surprised! Am shocked! Didn't see the­ game but USA rocks. Well done USA and good luck in the­ final (we never know!)

    From eric, on Thu 25 Jun 2:19AM

  8. WHATCH OUT VINNIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From dante, on Thu 25 Jun 2:07AM

  9. The Spanish Armada sinks again!!!!!!!!!

    From dante, on Thu 25 Jun 2:05AM

  10. This is football anything can happen look at England­ losing to the amateur USA, Italy lost to North Korea in­ the world cup that was played in England. Germany,­ France they all have lost to small teams look at­ Greece not to long ago they became European Champions­ and after they won the title they never won an­ international match again. they say thats the way the ­ "cookie crumbles" FLUKES, FLUKES, and FLUKES­ ....

    From dante, on Thu 25 Jun 2:02AM

  11. Spain in nothing without Senna.
    Senna should have been­ named Euro 2008 player not Xavi.

    From Moussa, on Thu 25 Jun 1:24AM

  12. REMEMBER Spain still have INIESTA and SENNA to come­ into this team and
    INIESTA is the guy who makes­ everything tick and SENNA is class in the
    anchor role -­ credit to the USA for their last 2 performances but­ they won't get anywhere in the world cup as they­ are 2 inconsistent and get too many players sent off

    From davemackay77, on Thu 25 Jun 1:08AM

  13. Spain struggle with a physical approach, it's the­ reason why Madrid and Barcelona struggle against EPL­ teams - too quick, too physical. The exception to that­ was Barca's defeat of United (who were without­ Fletcher and Hargreaves) but we all saw Chelsea beat­ Barca in the semi finals of course - that would have­ been a 4th consecutive defeat for Barca against EPL­ teams in the CL. And who can forget Liverpool 4-0 Real­ Madrid!?
    In sum, English football is vastly superior to­ Spanish football.

    From James D, on Thu 25 Jun 12:28AM

  14. i cant believe it too. i was watching the game and US­ totally deserved the victory. Spain coudnt get past the­ back line of the US. i still cant really believe it.­ and what a great goal by Jozy Altidore. He overpowered­ a Spain defender and just put a shot past Iker.

    From Icarus, on Thu 25 Jun 12:16AM

  15. spain suck

    From Gman, on Thu 25 Jun 12:05AM
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