by Roberto Alvarez-Galloso

Created on: July 02, 2009   Last Updated: July 05, 2009

The USA faced Egypt in the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa on the 21st of June 2009. According to the experts in football [soccer], it was a game in which the victory belonged to Egypt.

There were many reasons that were discussed among the experts. One of the reasons was that the USA was not a nation of Football [Soccer] but one of American Football, Basketball, and Baseball. The experts reasoned that these sports were the ones that ruled USA.

One reason used by the experts was Egyptian victory over the USA on June 8, 1987 in Seoul, South Korea. The statistics and recent changes were ignored by the experts at their own peril. Examples were the following:

The FIFA Coca Cola Standings as of June 2009 placed the USA in 14th place with 947 points compared with Egypt in 40th place with 719 points. Many people have forgotten that since the 1994 World Cup, the USA took strides to move forward as a Football [Soccer] Nation.

The first half of the game started with the US Soccer Team dominating the game while Egypt attempted to respond to the onslaught.

The first goal which was by Davies in 21 minutes was due to an attempt by the goalkeeper from Egypt Essam Al Hadary to block a kick from Altidore. During the attempt, Egyptian Defender Ahmed Fathi accidentally kicked Al Hadary in the head with his knee.

Davies took advantage of the accident to score the first goal for the USA. Everything remained the same until the second half. The second half was characterized by the goals of Bradley and Dempsey within the last few minutes of the game.

Bradley passed the ball between himself and Donovan and surprised the Egyptians with the second goal within 63 minutes. The method utilized for this surprise was the give and go passes and it helped the US Soccer Team.

Afterwards, Jonathan Spector took advantage of a long cross to score the third goal for the US Soccer Team in 71 minutes. Egypt was not going to sit back and allow itself to be defeated and launched a counter offensive which proved to be a failure.

The match turned to be one of historical proportions since the USA was to later advance to play against Spain and eventually Brazil for the FIFA Confederation Cup Championship.

While the USA played a great game, other factors that came into play was the lack of goals by Egypt and Italy in their Confederation Cup Game. The Egyptians were also fatigued and were quick to blame the absence of its striker Mohammed Zidan.

Regardless, the US Soccer Team made history.

FIFA Confederation Cup 2009

Date: 2009-06-21

Place: South Africa

USA 3-0 Egypt

Most Valued Players: Davies, Bradley, and Dempsey

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