Soccer International 1

When the U.S. Soccer Federation announced the roster for the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup in the midst of the U.S.'s surprising run to the Confederations Cup final, the general consensus was that the lineup was thoroughly a "B" team. After all, the supposed "A" team had done enough work in upsetting then-FIFA No. 1 Spain, and giving newly minted top dog Brazil a run for its money, before losing 3-2 last week.

On Wednesday, CONCACAF said it would allow the U.S. to add seven players to the already 23-man roster for the Gold Cup due to playing in back-to-back competitions barely separated by a week and, more importantly, over 10,000 miles. Thursday the USSF announced those seven players -- all members of the Confederations Cup roster -- upgrading the roster to a solid "B+."

For about 85 minutes Thursday it looked like lady luck would shine her fortune upon the underdogs for the second consecutive day at the Confederations Cup semifinals. Host South Africa was giving powerhouse Brazil all it could handle, continuously stymieing the five-time world champions all across the field in Johannesburg.

Yet it all came crashing down in an instant for the determined Bafana Bafana thanks to a moment of brilliance generated off the foot of Brazil sub Dani Alves, who had only entered the match a few minutes earlier. The Barcelona back curled in a perfect free kick in the 87th minute around the South African wall to push Brazil to a 1-0 victory and a date with the United States in Sunday's final.

The work, apparently, is never over for the U.S. National Team. Fresh off takings its bows after a stunning 2-0 upset over No. 1-ranked Spain at the Confederations Cup Wednesday, the U.S. was back to work Thursday.

In this case, it was naming a 23-man roster for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which begins on July 4 in Seattle with a match against Grenada. Of note, only six players on the Gold Cup roster have over 10 caps. On top of that, just Michael Parkhurst and Brian Ching were on the 2007 competition roster, which the U.S. won, punching their ticket to the 2009 Confederations Cup in the process.

Wednesday night in chilly Bloemfontein, South Africa, the U.S. national team lodged one of its greatest victories in its history, beating FIFA No. 1 Spain 2-0 in the Confederations Cup semifinals. The win snapped Spain's 35-match unbeaten run, denying them a chance to set a new record at 36.

This win almost made me pull out the thesaurus for the proper word to describe it. Stunning? Yes. Unbelievable? Pretty close. Deserved? You bet.

As a fan of the U.S. national team, you probably couldn't ask for more from Wednesday's Confederations Cup semifinal against Spain, especially considering how the first two games of the tournament unfurled for Bob Bradley's team. In short, the underdog Americans are up against FIFA's No. 1-ranked team, Spain, which has already set the all-time international record for consecutive wins (15) in this tournament and could break the all-time undefeated run (36) by defeating the Americans.

With a win, or even simply a strong performance, the U.S. can garner a boatload of goodwill toward the 2010 World Cup. At the very least it would erase the lingering doubts raised in the opening two games of this tournament.

All in all, the odds are surely stacked against the U.S., but that's why we follow sports, right? To see the chance of a colossal upset. The match kicks off from South Africa at 2:25 PM ET and we'll be blogging shortly before the opening whistle.

It's Spain's world, the rest of us are all just living in it. Saturday in the Confederations Cup, Spain dispatched hosing South Africa 2-0 on goals from David Villa and Fernando Llorente.

The win extended Spain's unbeaten run to an astounding 35 games, which ties the all time mark set by Brazil in the early 1990s. Perhaps even more impressive is that Spain has won its last 15 matches during the streak to set a world record there as well. Nobody is even close to Spain's level, although they haven't exactly played the world's toughest team's yet in this tournament.

Bob Bradley and the rest the U.S. national team ought to send a bouquet of flowers to Egyptian coach Hassan Shehata, after his Pharaohs upended Italy 1-0 in the Confederations Cup Group B play.

Even though the U.S. has been outscored 6-1 in two matches, on top of being generally outclassed, amazingly the Americans still have some semblance of a chance to advance ... assuming they can beat Egypt at least 5-0 Sunday and Italy loses to Brazil.*

Piece of cake.

When the draw for the 2009 Confederations Cup took place a couple months ago, American soccer fans circled the date June 18. Why? One word: Brazil. It's just not every day you get to play against the team most consider the best team in the world.

The U.S., which looked good for a half vs. Italy on Monday (and terrible for the other), probably needs to take at least a point against Kaka, Robinho & Co. Thursday in Pretoria, otherwise the final group stage on Sunday vs. Egypt will probably be rendered moot.

Action kicks off at 9:55 AM ET on ESPN2. We'll be live blogging shortly before then.

If you just look quickly at Spain's 1-0 victory over Iraq Wednesday in Confederations Cup play, it might seem like a letdown after the European's champ's 5-0 crunching of New Zealand over the weekend.

Yet, when you're on the roll like the Spanish National Team has been on for the last three years, all the victories tend to blend into one. More importantly, Wednesday's win pushed the country one shy of matching Brazil's all-time unbeaten run of 35 games.

By all accounts, the United States' run at the 2006 World Cup was an unmitigated disaster. If there was a lone bright spot, it came in the second group-stage match against Italy, where a scrappy U.S. side hung on for a 1-1 draw in a red-card plagued match in Kaiserslautern.

Three years later, the two sides are at it again -- this time in the opening match of Group B play in the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa. Many of the participants from that match should see action on Monday, including the Azzurri's Danielle De Rossi, who famously elbowed U.S. forward Brian McBride, opening up a huge gash on the American's forehead.

McBride won't be in Pretoria, but maybe he can follow along in our live blog, which begins at 2:30 PM ET.