Bloemfontein, South Africa - Spain's 35-match unbeaten run came to stunning close Wednesday as goals in either half from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey secured an unlikely 2-0 victory for the United States in the semi-final of the Confederations Cup. The European champions went into the game at the Free State stadium in Bloemfontein having also won a record 15 matches in succession but ran out a deserved second best against an American team that hustled and harried for the full 90 minutes.
The prize for Bob Bradley's side, whose son Michael Bradley was harshly sent off with four minutes remaining, is a final date Sunday against hosts South Africa or Brazil, who meet Thursday in the other semi-final at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
"It was a great team effort and to beat an amazing team like Spain is big," said US coach Bradley.
"We played as hard was we could and every guy contributed. That's what it took."
The United States - searching for a first ever competitive final date - attacked Spain from the outset, carving out a couple of early chances through Charlie Davies, who came close with an overhead kick in the 8th minute and a glancing header a minute later.
Dempsey was the next to try his luck with a shot from distance that fizzed just wide while Spain almost got on the scoresheet themselves through Fernando Torres after 11 minutes but the Liverpool striker just failed to get on the end of a Cesc Fabregas cross to the far post.
In an evenly-matched game, the US finally broke the deadlock after 27 minutes through Altidore, who latched on to a Dempsey pass and turned Joan Capdevila on the edge of the area before firing a low shot past Iker Casillas in the Spanish goal.
Spain were now chasing the game but lacked the fluency that had seen them unbeaten since going down 1-0 to Romania in a friendly on November 15, 2006 to equal Brazil's 35-match unbeaten run, set in the 1990s.
However despite failing to dominate proceedings, Vicente del Bosque's side could easily have equalized before the break through Torres but Tim Howard saved well at his near post.
The second half began just as the first had ended, with Spain occasionally threatening as Villa was the next to test Howard.
Villa could also have had a penalty when Landon Donovan made contact in the area after 53 minutes while Albert Riera fired narrowly wide a minute later.
Howard pulled off good saves from Fabregas and Sergio Ramos before a defensive error from Ramos on 74 minutes allowed Dempsey to end Spain's dreams of setting a new world-record unbeaten streak.
Donovan sent the ball across the Spanish area and Ramos tried to control the ball rather than clearing it, allowing Dempsey to hook home from six metres.
"No one thought we could come out and win tonight," said Fulham's Dempsey.
"We are happy with the win and know we will have to work hard to get something out of the final."
The only shadow on the evening was the sending off of Bradley, who was shown a straight red by referee Jorge Larrionda for a tackle on Xavi which seemed to merit a yellow card at most.
