26 USMNT Moments, Past to Present: Against the Odds

This is 26 USMNT Moments: Past to Present, a U.S. Soccer content series that covers 26 defining moments in U.S. Men's National Team history. From inspired victories to stunning goals, and the stars and hidden heroes who made them possible, each chapter reminds us that our dreams on the pitch are worth chasing. Together, they’ve built toward the biggest moment yet: the 2026 World Cup on home soil.

Russia, Germany, Denmark, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia, Belgium, Chile, England, Türkiye, Türkiye again, Azerbaijan, New Zealand, Iraq, and South Africa.

From the summer of 2008 to the summer of 2009, Spain beat every single one of those 14 teams. In a row. By an aggregate scoreline of 39-2. That 15-game winning streak came at the end of what became a 35-match unbeaten run. Spain went 16 months without a loss. In that stretch, they won their second European Championship. They would go on to win the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Euros as well. Simply put: There’s a strong argument that this version of Spain went on the best run we’ve seen from an international side in modern soccer.

But they weren’t invincible. The USMNT proved that. Although, they almost never got the chance to.

The United States qualified for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa after winning the 2007 Concacaf Gold Cup. In addition to serving as a tune-up for the 2010 World Cup, the Confederations Cup would potentially give the U.S. a chance to measure themselves against powerhouses like Brazil, Italy and, of course, Spain.

The initial measurement…well, the USMNT, to put it politely, came up short. The U.S. opened group play with a 3-1 loss to Italy and a 3-0 loss to Brazil. On paper, it looked like they would head home early. Remarkably, though, they still had hope.

To keep it simple, the United States would only advance if exactly what happened actually happened. On the final day of group play, Brazil took a 3-0 lead on Italy in the first half. That opened a window for the United States—already up 1-0 on Egypt in the first half—to advance…as long as Brazil held onto a 3-0 win and the U.S. pulled out a 3-0 win of its own.

In the 63rd minute, Michael Bradley scored via an assist from Landon Donovan. Moments later, Clint Dempsey sent a Jonathan Spector cross into the back of the net and pushed the USMNT to the Confederations Cup semifinal. Spain, winners of all of their group stage matches, were waiting with an unbeatable aura.

And suddenly it disappeared.

Twenty-seven minutes into the semifinal, Jozy Altidore – who was on the books of Spanish side Villarreal at the time -- shrugged off a defender at the top of the box and thumped a shot past legendary Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas to make it 1-0. That scoreline held until the 73rd minute. Benny Feilhaber weaved past multiple Spanish defenders and played Landon Donovan into the right side of the penalty area. Donovan crossed the ball. Dempsey, pouncing on a deflection off World XI-caliber center back Gerard Piqué, finished off one of the great moments in U.S. Soccer history.

2-0. A different kind of Dos a cero and with it, the USMNT advanced to its first-ever final in a FIFA competition.

“Three games ago, I think it would have been impossible to think about a night like tonight,” goalkeeper Tim Howard said to The Denver Post following the match. “We’ve had our fair share of critics, but we stood up and took it on the chin and kept going.”

From there, the U.S. kept going to the final against Brazil. And, for a while, it seemed like they were set to stun the world again.

The U.S. stayed hot and we’re effective on the counter to bag more goals. In the 10th minute, Dempsey swept home another cross from Spector, volleying from the top of the box before the ball tucked inside the left post to collect his third goal of the tournament. In the 27th minute, a quick break led to Charlie Davies setting up Donovan, who powered home his second of the competition from the top of the box.

The U.S. went into the locker room up 2-0 on a Brazil side that had pummeled 3-0 just 10 days earlier. Unfortunately, things fell apart in the second half. Brazil stormed back into the match and, eventually, took a 3-2 lead.

But even if the U.S. didn’t pull out a second-straight monumental win, they still earned a result that will live on in U.S. Soccer lore. They needed to pull off nearly the impossible to even get a chance at something that seemed improbable. Just advancing out of the group would have been a tremendous accomplishment on its own. They pulled it off. Then they followed it up with one of the biggest upsets in national team history. Then they nearly did it again.

In that era, it took a truly special performance to stay off Spain’s list. In the 2009 Confederations Cup, the USMNT provided exactly that.

Sam Jones covers MLS for MLSsoccer.com, and Atlanta United and NWSL Atlanta for FiveStripeFinal.com. Sam has covered MLS and Atlanta United since 2017.