(Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
The United States will meet Spain in the Confederations Cup semifinals.
Spain is currently ranked No. 1 in the World. The Spaniards dominated their competition in the group stage, and are clearly looking ahead to a probable final with Brazil.
The U.S. team advanced to the semifinal via a long-shot tiebreak rule, beating Egypt 3-0 while Italy lost to Brazil 3-0. While they'll be very happy to be in the semifinal, the task ahead is daunting.
What will be the game plan for Bob Bradley's men against Spain on Wednesday?
Patience.
The U.S. men will be outmatched at just about every position on the field.
That said, the U.S. men have proved their resilience in this competition.
After many wrote the U.S. men off, they were able to advance with a lot of luck, but also a great result against Egypt.
If the U.S. can weather the grueling storm of David Silva, David Villa, and Fernando Torres, (perhaps all three) and go into halftime with the scoreline at 0-0, there is no telling what may happen.
Patience will only go so far. The U.S. will have to do something it hasn't in years, maintain some sort of shape. Stretching Spain out will aid in taking some of the pressure off the U.S. back four.
The longer Tim Howard and his defenders can go without conceding a goal, the more their confidence will grow. However, until the game against Egypt, the United States was plagued by allowing early goals.
While Spain doesn't possess the defensive quality Italy does, the likes of Puyol, Pique, and Sergio Ramos are far from pushovers.
To win, the United States will need some luck, perhaps a scrappy goal. To put it bluntly, the U.S. has to make the game ugly.
One more plague the United States must avoid is reckless tackles. Two reckless tackles have led to two first half sendoffs against the two best teams they've played in the competition.
If a U.S. player decides to recklessly challenge a player and is sent off, expect a similar result to those produced by Italy and Brazil against the US.
The U.S. has the fitness and drive to win this game. Doing so would really prove to many of its critics that the U.S. Men's National Team can play with anyone, which may actually create some anticipation for the upcoming 2010 World Cup.
While a victory is extremely unlikely, if the United States can be patient and hang around for 60 or 70 minutes without conceding, the game will be anyone's to take.
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