Oops, I Did It Again

If you've read this blog you would assume that I am technologically ignorant. I mean, the fact that I am indeed blogging seems to shoot this down, but you know, whatever.

Well, in another attempt to watch a game hours after it was actually completed ended in utter disaster, though this time it was barely my fault.

After USA Soccer's improbable trip to the semi-finals of the Confederations' Cup with their win over Egypt, I knew there was no way I was going to miss the game against Spain. Plans were formed in the days before to record it and watch it later in the day since me and two of my friends who really wanted to watch it both had work till 3:30. This triggered an interesting series of events:

3:05 ET - My friend Paul comes into my room at work to alert me that, as usual, the person in charge of recording the game has messed up but has been alerted and will record from this point forward. As its 25 minutes bast kickoff we check the score since we will miss these minutes anyway and to make us make better plans or decide to drink copious amount of alcohol before watching if Spain already lead 4-0 or something. Alas we see a 1-0 scoreline in favor of the US and our interest is peeked. We hearby assume radio silence.

3:35 ET - Sitting in the doctors office waiting for an appointment that amounted to 5 minutes of small talk before stripping down, turning my head and coughing (you needed to know that, I swear), some older guy walks in and attempts to put the game on the waiting room. Granted I had my fill of News 12 Long Island to that point, but wished to keep in the dark on the game. The fact that I am not an asshole prevented my from stopping the channel changing. Sadly, for him anyway, any channel that was not 12 was not working, sad for the receptionists if nobody else. After a brief internal celebration this conversation ensued:

Guy: "US soccer's playing Spain right now, ya know?"

Me: " Yeah, I'm actually recording it at home so I can watch it later, so don't tell me anything about the game."

Guy: "Yeah, US is up 1-0, its amazing. Spain's supposed to be pretty good, right?"

Me: "...sigh..Yeah. They're pretty good."

This man was now the most despised person in my vicinity as well as the poster child for human stupidity and the inability to listen to anyone besides the voices in their own heads. Keep in mind that group of people included another man who would be roughly tugging on my man region in a few minutes. I was not happy at all. Now I knew the US had held the lead at least through halftime, but was still at the very least intrigued by the second half.

4:50 ET - I had survived the rest of the time in the waiting room with nothing more than forced conversation about US soccer with people who knew no more than that Brazil and Spain were "pretty good," so if I could avoid the radio I would be set. That's when I got this text from my friend Mills:

"Im assuming ull be writing a post on 2days win..."

Poor grammar from a journalism major aside, I was crushed....well only a little, we had apparently just beat Span, which is nice. I immediately responded with some harsh words after which Mills valiantly attempted to convince me he was lying about the score the whole time.

5:05 ET - After these few texts in which he attempted to convince me the US had indeed lost 4-1 (Ignore the obvious fact of why would he be lying in the first place. Why would I think on such an obvious level?) I started to had a little bit of doubt. This shows my pessimism gained from being a Mets, Jets and Rangers fan more than anything else. We beat Spain? Somebody must be lying to me.

5:25 ET - Mills ruins the day again apologizing for ruining the game all over again just minutes after I was able to convince myself that the result was in doubt. So back to that mixed bag of emotions of victory and disappointment over being unable to see it. I really should never have checked my phone in the first place, but hindsight is 20/20 and hell, WE JUST BEAT SPAIN!!

As for the actual game, me and a half dozen friends (including Mills, who had long given up pretending the US hadn't won 2-0) watched the ESPN2 replay at 11 PM, so I could finally witness the fantastic result. Which leads me to my thoughts on the game.

Jozy Altidore = Brandi Chastain?
Not so much. Still his shirt removal following the opening goal really is a similar kind of symbol for US Soccer. While it isn't exactly the World Cup final, this men's team was never the respect team that Chastain played on. Altidore showed absolute raw emotion, one of the great things that make sports as important as they are and leads to people like me blogging about such things. That moment could end up being just as iconic for a nation of young boys as Chastain's shirt removal, I'm assuming in a much different way though. Also Altidore stripping down to his long sleeve under armour (though its probably Nike, you know what I mean, sorry corporate dudes scrolling the internet) earned him a yellow card. Somehow Chastain's sports bra failed to allicite a yellow (not that I'm complaining), though it did lead to a great NIKE commercial.

The Spanish Invitation
What the US did better than Spain, better than anyone expected them too, was capitalize on Spanish mistakes. The first goal (depite Altidore showing great strength in holding off the defender) was a combination of a poor play by Carlos Puyol (EDIT: Upon rewatching, don't blame Puyol all you Spanish fans who read my blog, that was merely a fantastic play my Altidore, who's hype I usually don't see, to turn and put the man on his back) and Iker Casillas, generally one of the best in the world, guessing when he didn't really have to and being caught off balance so that the shot, struck nearly right at him bounced off his hand and into the back of the net. The second goal was Clint Dempsey, who has played fantastic this tournament, taking the ball off the foot of former Sevilla youth and current Real Madrid fullback, Sergio Ramos. Ramos thought he had time to clear instead of just sending it out on the first touch. Dempsey was right behind him and put it in, even sending the Spanish announcer into pandemonium.

Thank God for Tim Howard
Howard was a huge difference maker in the game. He made six saves and stoned every chance the Spainards had while Casillas was unable to stop either of the United States' chances. Howard's play allowed the US counter attack to get out and cause problems and give them the chance to win, a chance they took. Howard has most likely certified his position as one of the best in the world. US keepers are the one position where America holds their own on a broader scale with the rest of the world. Now its Howard. It used to be Brad Friedel who has now over 250 appearances in the Premier League. Brad Guzan, who shut out Egypt in this Confederations Cup, is signed for Aston Villa where he backs up Friedel. Kasey Keller, Marcus Hahnemann and many others all have secured lucrative European contracts and have held their own across the pond. Some people say the focus on more sports predicated on eye-hand coordination leads to better keepers in the US and I have to say, I don't care, as long as we can keep competing with Spain and doing this to other keepers.

For fear of being found out for the property theif that I am i need to thank the LA Times for all these photos of the match, that and I really do think all the shots really are pretty damn awesome