US beats Spain

It was a gross mismatch on paper. The US was coming off a first round where they basically needed a miracle even to make it to the semifinals of the Confederations Cup. The US had played two top-flight opponents (Italy and Brazil) and lost both badly.

So the odds weren't even close to being in favor of the U.S. winning -- or of even being close. On ESPN.com's Streak for Cash the two options were the U.S. winning or losing by one or Spain winning by two. The choices are designed to be as close as possible so you don't know which to choose.

Spain hadn't lost a game in 35 matches. They had won 15 in a row. The last time they lost to a non-European opponent was ten years ago, back in 1999.

But the U.S. came out and won, 2-0 thanks not only to goals by young forward Jozy Altidore and veteran Clint Dempsey, but by an incredible defensive performance, especially by center defender Oguchi Onyewu and goalkeeper Tim Howard.

Defenders were diving in, sliding and making last-second efforts to stop the Spanish forwards from scoring at every opportunity. When the Spaniards did get a shot off, Howard was there to parry the ball away.

If you ever have a chance to watch the replay of this game, do so. It was a really good game -- well, if you are a U.S. soccer fan, anyway.