Watch The Confederations Cup 2009 Semi-Finals

An astonishing last day in the Group B games means that the Confederations Cup semi-finals will be Spain v USA, and Brazil v South Africa.

I did say that it was still mathematically possible for the USA to qualify, even after being thoroughly beaten by both Brazil and Italy. In contrast, Egypt had exceeded all expectations, almost taking a point from the Brazilians then beating Italy. The Egyptians were just a draw away from the semis and yet it was the Americans who showed the determination and desire to go for the win. With the half-time scores being 3-0 to Brazil and 1-0 to the USA had those been the final scores Italy would have gone through. The USA needed to beat Egypt by more than they lost to Italy (3-1) - and they did it!

The Italians have been poor, just as they were in Euro 2008. The current side has many of the players who won the World Cup but that was back in 2006 and three years on the side looks slow and lacking ideas. Their manager, Lippi, must rue the day he accepted to manage the national side for a second time - sainthood can only be bestowed once and is easily lost.

So, barring another huge upset in this Confederations Cup, the final looks likely to be many people's predictions when the tournament started: Spain versus Brazil. They are easily the two best sides in this competition and should be a great final, somewhat overcoming many pundits' feelings that this is a lame and slightly pointless tournament. It doesn't have the prestige of the World Cup proper but the desire to win on the faces of the players shows this is much more than a friendly training session.

Team USA are in a strange position regarding the popularity of football in the US. I don't think it really helps that Americans insist on calling it soccer. The USA are currently ranked 14th in the FIFA world rankings. Sure, this is slightly flattering as they play a lot of dreadful teams, but they won the CONCACAF Cup beating Mexico, who are themselves ranked 26th. The USA national team has come a long way in the last ten years, but how many football fans are there in America?

This Confederations Cup seems to have done a world of good to South Africa's image in hosting next year's World Cup, as well as to their team's spirit in hoping to progress beyond the group stages. Let's hope it will also show Americans that this is a global sport in which they can be proud of their team... and support it.