Spain 3 - United States 1

Spain: Aranzubia; Lacruz, Amaya, Marchena, Puyol; Velamazán (Ferrón 75'), Albelda, Xavi, Angulo (Gabri 75'); Tamudo, José Mari (Unai 87'). 4-4-2.

Goals:
1-0. 16. Tamudo. Took José Mari's pass from right and shot into roof of net.
2-0. 24. Angulo. Received through ball from José Mari and shot under Friedel.
2-1. 41. Vagenas (penalty). Following foul by Angulo on Hejduk.
3-1. 86. José Mari. On the rebound after Friedel blocked Tamudo's long shot.

Spain assured themselves of at least a silver medal with a two goal victory over a surprisingly good United States team. Playing with an unchanged line up after defeating Italy in the quarter finals, the Spanish side dominated the first half, with José Mari laying on two goals early on for Tamudo and then for Angulo. First of all, with the game only a quarter of an hour old, the Milan based striker took the ball off an American defender and laid the ball across for the Catalan forward to open his account in the competition, and then José Mari repeated the act ten minutes later, with Valencia's Angulo the beneficiary. The US manager replaced his quarterback and his wide receiver seven minutes from the interval to shake up his side, and three minutes later an overstrong tackle by Angulo on Hejduk was penalized by Tunisian referee Mourad Daami with a penalty. Vagenas kicked for goal, and although some American football supporters groaned when the ball passed under the bar, those in the know celebrated. After the break Spain sat back and let the US come at them, looking for the counter-attack to finish off the game. The Americans came back, with Wolff wasting their best chance. With the Spanish supporters (including Prince Felipe) holding their breaths, Tamudo took a long shot at goal, which Friedel could only push out. In came José Mari to score his third goal of the competition, a fitting end to his best game of the competition so far. Spain were in the final, with a chance to emulate their gold medal winning side of 1992. The final will be on Saturday at 03:00 European time. Sales of video machines in Spain may well increase in the next few days.