All the teams had brought their best players. Even though the Confederations Cup had little history behind it, and had no prestige to speak of, not one single team was taking this tournament lightly. The regional winners from around the world with their best players in tow were going to dispute this little known event in front of a worldwide audience.
The first match with Italy started promisingly. A penalty in the 40th minute, when Chiellini of Italy fouled USA's Altidore, was converted by Donovan and the US led at halftime, 1 0. But by the 58th minute, things started going downhill. Rossi scored for Italy and they eventually won, 3 1. Against Brazil the massacre continued. By the end of their second match, the US had zero points, had scored but once on a penalty, and had allowed six goals.
Meanwhile, the Egyptians had shocked world champion Italy that same day 1 0 and were tied with them for second place in their group. Brazil, having beaten both Egypt and the USA, was the leader. The USA squad was at the bottom of their group and appeared certain to be among the first to exit. All appeared right in the soccer world. All that was left was to see if how bad Egypt was going to slaughter the Americans and see if it would be enough for them to move on to face Spain. Of course, Italy had its chances to move on as well depending on their game with Brazil.
The US needed more than a miracle if it was to see its chances of moving on. Not only did the US need to beat Egypt by at least three goals, a near impossibility for the squad that had lost to Iran once, but Brazil also needed to beat Italy by at least three goals, about as likely as Obama becoming president of the United States. The odds were so much against them that it was reported that several British gambling houses simply removed the US from their betting roster, no sense in beating a dead horse and no one was foolish enough to think that they really had a shot of moving on anyway.
Miracle #1: USA 3 Egypt 0.
Miracle #2: Brazil 3 Italy 0.
As the world looked on in horror, the Italian and Egyptian squads slowly packed their bags, boarded their planes, and returned to their countries, fin d'histoire. The US team was moving on.
They were moving on to meet the team that is considered the best in the world. And it's not because their name is easy to pronounce either. In their last match, Spain had tied the Brazilian world record for number of consecutive matches without a loss at 35. But even more impressive, they had established a new record of 15 consecutive wins. No team in the history of FIFA regulation had ever accomplished that goal. Certainly the powerhouse Spain would put the pesky Americans in their place in the semifinals.
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