I’m the only American in my circle of football hooligan friends so they all came out to support the USA against Brazil. This picture is of my Belgian friend Ludo who got the t-shirt from another Belgian friend who bought it off a homeless guy while traveling in the US. Cost of super funky t-shirt: priceless. Could you imagine anyone in their right mind wearing a Bush t-shirt? America is back in style, folks!
Just when you thought that the nine month European football season is finally over they throw a sort of not-shit tournament at you, this one was called the Confederation Cup of whatever. The USA was soundly trounced in the group play by Italy and then by Brazil. They made it into the finals by the most bizarre set of eventualities in the history of football tournaments only to be paired up against Spain who are ranked number one in the world. Two unanswered goals later the USA team finds themselves in the final game against Brazil. I arrived a ten minutes late for the game and the USA was up 1-0 already only to score again at 27 minutes by a brilliant breakaway goal by Donovan.
There were already too many miracles this week for that score to stand and Sevilla star striker Fabiano scored in the first minute of the second half. Brazil hacked away at the US squad like someone chopping down a tree with a very sharp ax. I said before the match that I really just wanted to see a good game and I didn’t expect the USA to win. I got my wish and then some although seeing that 2-0 lead change into defeat was a bit of a heartbreaker. The bottom line is that Brazil is just a better squad. Spain is a better team than Brazil, in my opinion but the USA just played way over their heads. Hopefully the brilliant play by the USA will work to get them a little better placement in the group play next summer in South Africa for the World Cup.
