US Men's National Team Outclassed, 4-0, by World Cup Champion Spain

Foxborough, MA - Playing in front of a record 64,121 people at Gillette Stadium, the United States was simply outclassed and manhandled, 4-0, by the 2010 FIFA World Cup Champion Spain.

In a game where Landon Donovan sat out due to illness, Carlos Bocanegra didn't dress for the game and both Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley were benched, coach Bob Bradley utilized an inexperienced lineup in the first half. The result was simply horrific as they allowed three goals in 15 minutes.

It was a rough first half for US goalkeeper Tim Howard, who had virtually no help on defense, as each ball sailed past him towards the net. The United States simply could not contain Spain in the penalty area, and it showed as they left a Spanish player open on numerous occasions.

Spain, without Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Carlos Puyol in the starting lineup, didn't seem affected.

Leading the way for Spain was Santiago Cazorla, who scored two of the three goals in that span when he literally kicked off the scoring register in the 28th minute on a pass from David Silva. Four minutes later, Alvaro Negredo made it 2-0 for Spain. Before the first half concluded, Cazorla scored again on another Silva connection.

Fernando Torres nailed the final nail in the coffin when he beautifully hammered home a right-footed toe-poke past Howard, off the lower-right post in the 73rd minute. This game could easily have been 7-0 had David Silva's goal not been disallowed, Negredo's shot not hit the crossbar and David Villa's missed curled shot.

The one thing that was clearly evident about Saturday's match is that the United States are not in the same class as Spain. For the game, Spain had a 20-6 advantage on shots. In addition, the World Cup Champion had an 8-1 advantage in shots on goals.

This game was a tale of countries. Spain not only has the defending World Cup Champions, they also have the 2011 UEFA Champions Barcelona. A loss as drastic as this makes it difficult to promote CONCACAF and Major League Soccer as one of the most competitive leagues in the world today.

Since being eliminated by Ghana in the 2010 World Cup, the United States has been outscored 7-1 at home in their last three friendlies—they loss 2-0 to Brazil, tied Argentina 1-1 and were annihilated 4-0 on Saturday by Spain.

With this past now past them, the United States will attempt to win the Gold Cup for the fifth time when they open their 2011 Gold Cup, facing Team Canada in Detroit on Tuesday, June 7th.

To see more photos taken by Bill Menzel: http://on.fb.me/jcjtAZ

Cesar Diaz covers Soccer for LatinoSports.com. He also writes for 5 Points Press & USSoccerPlayers.com ; your source for American Soccer news brought to you by members of the U.S. National Team. Easily accessible, you may reach Cesar at [e-mail] and at Twitter at @CoveringSoccer.