Swiss’ sweet upset? Born in the USA
By Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports Wednesday, Jun 16, 2010
Follow Martin Rogers on Twitter at @mrogersyahoo
It was the most monumental of shocks and lit up what had been a sleepy World Cup. But while Switzerland’s dramatic 1-0 victory over tournament favorite Spain took place in Africa, the upset was born in the USA.
Swiss coach Ottmar Hitzfeld devised his game plan for shutting down the European champion’s destructive offense after witnessing the manner in which the United States stunned Spain in last year’s Confederations Cup, the warmup event to the World Cup.
Hitzfeld has built his reputation as one of the most respected coaches in the world thanks to his inexhaustible work ethic, which involves dedicated study of thousands of matches. But in the leadup to the World Cup, the former Bayern Munich manager turned to one game time and time again.
That miraculous result took place on June 24, 2009, at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein. On that night, an American team that had squeezed through the Confederations Cup group stage on goal differential defied predictions of a blowout loss to stun the soccer world with a 2-0 victory over the then-No. 1-ranked Spanish.
Hitzfeld broke down Bradley’s blueprint step by step, noting how his team specifically focused on a few key areas of the field to overcome a drastic difference in technical ability.
“We saw how the Americans played against Spain with a lot of interest,” Hitzfeld said. “You know that if you are going to have a chance against [the Spanish] you need to do certain things very well.
“The USA did not try to do everything. They accepted the fact that Spain has pace and width and simply made sure they kept the center of defense as tight as they could. It is not a perfect system, but it was a very interesting tactic and it worked.”
Spain has looked indestructible in recent years and has established itself as one of the great teams of modern times. At the European Championships two years ago, the Spanish conceded only three goals while scoring 12 in their magnificent romp to their first major tournament title in 44 years.
As well as having superstars such as Fernando Torres, Iker Casillas and Xavi Hernandez, Spain is blessed with solid role players (such as Gerard Pique and Carlos Puyol) who add so much to the team. And yet, on Wednesday, it wasn’t enough against Switzerland, just like it wasn’t against the USA.
Switzerland’s goal from Gelson Fernandes in the 52nd minute was scrappy and fortunate, but nothing should be taken away from the Swiss’ overall performance. The defeat was only Spain’s second in 50 matches.
“You are always going to need a little luck to beat Spain,” Fernandes said. “But we feel we deserve this. We worked very hard and the coach had a great plan for the game.”
A plan which stemmed, in part, from Bob Bradley, the man who hopes to lead the U.S. on a deep run in South Africa.