Spain is the No. 1 team in the world for a reason

Anytime you take the field against Spain, the reigning 2010 World Cup champions and the undisputed No. 1 team in the world, you're guaranteed to have your hands full.

When you play Spain with most of your best players on the bench to start, you might as well not show up. At least, that's the attitude that the United States seemed to take on Saturday afternoon as they hosted Spain at Gillette Stadium in what should have been a nice send-off for the U.S. before the Gold Cup.

Instead, it turned out to be a 4-0 beating handed to them by Spain which truthfully should have been 6-0 or 7-0. It was that bad. Alvaro Arbeloa scored on a 1-2 but the play was incorrectly blown dead. Alvaro Negredo's cheeky chip went off the crossbar and David Villa just curled a shot wide (all in the first 25 minutes).

"It's been a good moment in football for Spain," said Spanish head coach Vicente del Bosque. "We've had success for some time. We're all reaping the fruits of our labor and hard work."

Carlos Bocanegra (rest) and Landon Donovan (illness) didn't get off the bench while Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey were subbed on at halftime. It didn't make much of a difference since Spain jumped out to a 3-0 halftime lead. I'll bet Tim Howard wished he got a similar break before the U.S. hosts Canada on Tuesday in Detroit for the Gold Cup opener.

"It's a tough test to play them (Spain) anytime, even tougher on the eve of the Gold Cup," said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. "We've always chosen to take these kind of challenges, playing the best teams. It's the way to see what the game at the highest level is all about."

Spain's finishes were all clinical, leaving Howard with no chance to stop any of them. A leaky U.S. backline was at fault, compounded with Spain's top notch playmaking and shooting abilities.

Santiago Cazorla got Spain on the board in the 28th minute after a David Silva beat his man down the flank then played it to him in the box. Cazorla didn't waste it, putting the ball in the corner, upper 90.

Before the U.S. had a chance to regroup, Alvaro Negredo made it 2-0 after a long, looping pass that sprung him. Xabi Alonso, the Spanish midfield wizard, passed it from behind the midfield line.

Cazorla scored his second in the 41st minute, assisted once again by Silva. It was basically a replay of his earlier strike.

There were wholesale substitutions at halftime for both teams but that only made the game more dull. Neither team did much until Fernando Torres of all people took a through ball and hit a pretty shot off both posts and in. 4-0 Spain, game set match.

The good news for the U.S. is that they'll get right back out there on Tuesday with a game against a rival that they own. I think that's positive for them, rather than going back to training for weeks and letting this stinker stew in their heads.

"Hopefully there's something we can take from this game for the next three weeks and also moving forward," said a strangely upbeat Bradley.

Yeah, let's hope so Bob. If the U.S. doesn't at least get to the Gold Cup final (against Mexico), I'm going to buy the domain name (firebobbradley.com) and then we'll have something to really talk about.

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