- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday September 27 2000 02.27 BST
It has long been one of football's unsolved mysteries that Spain have never won the World Cup, or even come close. The Olympic tournament bears no comparison, but Spain won the gold in 1992 on home territory, and reached this Saturday's final against Cameroon with a 3-1 victory over the United States.
The Spaniards' rich and varied skills overwhelmed a somewhat pedestrian American team whose chief attribute throughout this tournament has been a fierce and Olympian team spirit.
The US men had been determined to match their women, the world and Olympic champions, and make the final. But on an evening when the rain lashed down over Sydney it was quickly apparent that mere spirit would not be sufficient.
It was, in essence, a very British evening. It might have been West Ham United against Cardiff City in the Worthington Cup at Upton Park, except that Cardiff would have won. Clive Charles, the US coach, who played for both West Ham and Cardiff, must have feared the worst when he looked up into the floodlights of the Sydney Football Ground, a next-door neighbour of the altogether more famous Sydney Cricket Ground, and saw the rain falling.
The grassy pitch was slick and fast, and the superior skills of the Spanish were obvious. Just when it seemed their sharp and intelligent approach work might founder once the penalty area was reached, the highly impressive Jose Mari Romero broke swiftly down the right and from his low cross Raul Tamudo slid in to score with the outside of his right foot.
A second goal shortly afterwards by Miguel Angulo, again created by Romero, appeared to have put the semi-final beyond the reach of the US team until an unnecessary foul by Angulo on Frankie Hejduk just before half-time allowed Pete Vagenas to narrow the deficit with a penalty.
A late second-half third goal by Romero underlined Spain's overall superiority, although victory came at a cost. Their captain Toni Velamazan was booked and will miss the final against Cameroon, the African Nations champions, who in a flurry of late goals came from behind to defeat Chile 2-1 in the other semi-final, the winner being scored by Arsenal's Lauren in the 89th minute.
Charles believes that his team's performance in Australia will have gone a long way to convincing the world that the US "are no longer a third-world nation". The success of the US team in Australia will certainly be seen as another stepping stone towards international maturity, even though the Olympic football tournament is essentially an under-23 competition.
Generally the best players are missing, although in terms of pure competition football has a greater validity than the men's Olympic tennis tournament, where the apathy of the professionals is all too obvious.
However, it was a pity that the US team, having played their previous matches in Adelaide, Canberra, and Melbourne, pulled out of the Olympic village after only one night and booked themselves into a hotel. "The village was a lot different to what we had become used to to," said Charles. The two-tier Olympics.
Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, still smarting from the Charlie Dempsey debacle, has assured Oceania that he bears them no ill will, and has attempted to encourage Australia to bid for the World Cup. "After organising such a fantastic Olympics, I feel sure they could stage the World Cup," said Blatter, who has apparently not given up the idea of holding football's premier tournament every two years. No doubt Mr Samaranch may have a word in Blatter's shell-like before Sunday's closing ceremony.
Tomorrow the US plays Norway for the gold medal in the women's tournament. The Americans were not unduly impressive during their 1-0 semi-final victory over Brazil, but achieved the objective of having the opportunity to defend the title they won against China in Atlanta.
Norway, third in the 1996 games, needed a late own-goal to defeat Germany, and they have already lost to the US in the earlier stages of the tournament here
"Norway are a very good side. They have some absolute world-class players and they won't give an inch," said April Heinrichs, the US coach. "Our games against them have always been tight and I expect no different in the final."
