I never thought I would be saying this....

.....especially considering how I cheered for Spain in the semis of the Davis Cup, but I'm very disappointed that Spain one today. With Del Potro out it was up to Jose Acasuso to keep Argentina's hopes alive. Now, I mean no disrespect to Acasuso, but this definitely spelled out Argentina's doom. His level of play was no where near Nalbandian's or Del Potro's. Even if he had not been playing up to his usual abilities, I still think that Del Potro would have been able to beat Verdasco. Verdasco did have moments of goodness - there was hardly any brilliant tennis in that match (brilliance is Rafa and Roger, oh and Nalbandian beating Ferrer on Friday, thank you *g*) - but on a whole if he had been up against someone better, Argentina would have gone to a fifth match. He had a lot of errors -and in particular double faults. A lot of Verdasco's easy points came on Acasuso's unforced errors. By the end of the match Acasuso was clearly spent both physically (he did call the trainer at one point) and mentally (I'm sure he was aware that this is the second time that his match has cost Argentina the Davis Cup). I feel incredibly bad for Argentina right now. They came in as the favorites and lost due to unforseen injuries. Well, partially unforseen. Surely they would have known that del Potro would have been tired coming into this event after jsut coming from Shanghai. But I doubt anyone thought that he wouldn't be able to play on Sunday. Acasuso calling the trainer at the end of the fourth set was just the straw that broke the camel's back, I think.

So it's Spain who goes home with the Silver Salad Bowl today. To their credit, Sanchez was brilliant in coaching his team. I kind of got the sense that Spain behaved more like a team than Argentina did. Funny enough, this is Spain's third Davis Cup win and the third time that they've won it in the same year as the summer Olympics. All three years Spain has gone away with a medel in the Olympics (doubles teams took home bronze in 2000, 2004, and 2008, while we all know who one gold in the singles in 2008). Well, next year if Team Federer doesn't make it to the finals - and that does seem like abit of a stretch for them to make it- then I will hope for Argentina again. Unless of course Nadal plays.....