After pulling off the upsets of all upsets against the Soviet Union in Lake Placid, the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team still had to face Finland for the most anticlimactic gold medal in history.
All apologies to the home of Teemu Selanne, Teppo Numminen and lots and lots of reindeer, but Finland isn't Brazil. And if the United States wants to etch its name in the public consciousness, it has work left to do Sunday against the ultimate soccer heavyweight.
- By an almost two-to-one margin, SportsNation feels beating Brazil would be bigger than beating Spain.
Fewer than one out of every three picked the Americans to win when the teams met in group play. And after a 3-0 clinic from the Brazilians, SportsNation offered up the ultimate indictment, with 63 percent saying they'd rather watch Brazil play its brand of soccer than the home team.
- Before Barcelona and Manchester United played for the Champions League, 65 percent of SportsNation hadn't watched a professional soccer game in the last year. But with national pride on the line, half will tune in for Sunday's final.
- Fan groups: USA National Team | Soccer/Futbol fans | Euro Soccer Nation
“If the US gets beaten soundly in the final the rest of the world will forget about [the Spain] game as soon as it's over and chalk it up as a total fluke. As great as this win against Spain is for the US the pressure is really on now.
” -- Triple_Double_32
“Folks, please stop dreaming and lets be realistic. Brazil will win this final because they are the better team, more talented with individual skills, very talented set pieces, they're very technical and unlike Spain who is very predictable. ... Brazil has scored more goals, won more games, won more tournaments, hold the most trophies, have been scored on less then any other team in the history of the game, but I guess they've been lucky all of those years right ?
” -- Bankster00
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