Washington - A huge and unexpected victory in the semi- finals of the Confederations Cup Wednesday left American football fans as surprised as anyone. At the game played in Bloemfontein's Free State Stadium, the US claimed a historic 2-0 victory over Spain, in what has been called their biggest football victory ever.
Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey scored in either half at for the US, who snapped Spain's winning streak at 15 matches and unbeaten run at 35 games.
"This win is huge for American soccer," said man of the match Dempsey. "This is our first time to be in the final of a major competition, so obviously we are thrilled."
For fan Chris Hoene, 38, of Washington, it was an amazing game, "one of the top four or five games for us."
"You make it to the final, you advance out of a group with Brazil and Italy, and then beat Spain when they are number one?" said Todd Turner, 34, who watched the game with Hoene at an ESPNZone bar in the US capital. "It helps them get a seed in next year's World Cup."
"Yeah, we got the shaft on that last time," Hoene said, shaking his head. "We won, like, nine straight games against Mexico and finished the second seed in our region."
The US team was eliminated from the 2006 World Cup after losing to Ghana and the Czech Republic and drawing with Italy.
Hoene said the US team had made an impressive showing so far, despite not having much practice together.
"They got better every game," Hoene said. "They haven't played together a lot, and the first two games were a little rough. The third game was way better, the fourth game was way better ... it shows that they are learning how to play together."
Turner said the upcoming Gold Cup could be another coup for the Americans. "Our team could win that ... we have definitely got momentum" for the World Cup and the upcoming qualifier at Azteca Stadium in Mexico, Turner said.
Aaron Ingham, 21, of Pennsylvania, hoped Wednesday's win would finally draw greater interest from US fans.
"Not a lot of Americans really get up and care about how the team is doing, especially getting ready for the World Cup ... hopefully this will rally a bit of support," he said.
