Play-by-play

The teams are on the field and warming up. We're close to kickoff. Everyone keeps talking about how the U.S. has a point to prove. If anyone has a point to prove, it's probably Egypt. Despite running Brazil ragged at times and beating Italy, the Pharaohs are still being referred to as "scrappy" and a "hustle" team -- where in actuality, Egypt is a very technically gifted team that plays great counter attacking football.

1 min: We're off.

2 mins: First break of the day, DeMerit misjudges a header and the ball is headed over Spector to Abdelghani, who's wide open on the top of the U.S. box and slams a left-footed horribly wild and wide. You have to wonder just how much Egypt will miss the injured Zidan today.

3 mins: Al Muhamadi torches Bornstein down the right and sends in a very dangerous cross that somehow eludes everyone in the box.

4 mins: Altidore draws a free kick about 40 yards out in a central position. Dempsey winds up and tries a long-range effort that hits the wall, loses velocity and drifts to El Hadary.

6 mins: First corner of the day, Spector plays it in to Clark, who tries a left-footed shot that is blocked out. Donovan's corner is caught on the fly by El Hadary, who tries to set Aboutrika free on the break with a long throw, but it's too far ahead of him.

9 mins: Clark tees up the ball on the left sideline from a throw-in and tries a 40-yard shot at an acute angle that goes about 40 yards wide. That's an embarrassing effort, the likes of which have not been seen since Joaquin Phoenix grew a beard, donned hipster shades and tried to rap. Not to mention, wildly optimistic.

11 mins: Dangerous move from Egypt, a nice give-and-go on the left flank and Eid sends in a nasty-looking cross that Onyewu does well to clear. The Pharaohs get the ball back and earn a phantom free kick in a dangerous spot out on the left after a dive. From the resulting free kick, it's a comedy of errors in the U.S. box, with the U.S. defenders taking about 25 attempts to clear and about six Egyptians dithering on the ball in the 6-yard box and refusing to shoot. From the clearance, the U.S. break into the Egyptian box and Bradley draws a fine save from El Hadary with a fierce low drive. End-to-end stuff.

15 mins: Long ball forward from the U.S. from Dempsey finds Donovan, who chests the ball down and beats his man. He's all alone one on one with El Hadary and inexplicably decides to square the ball across the box and it's clear. Obviously he thought Altidore was with him, but at the same time, he was clean through and should have shot.

16 mins: With the wide-open style on display here from both teams, this game is likely to see quite a few goals. In the meantime, Eid earns a corner.

17 mins: The Egyptians go with a short corner and Aboutrika curls a dangerous cross across the U.S. box to Shawky. Shawky's all alone as the U.S. central defenders go to sleep, but heads the ball wildly over.

18 mins: The U.S. play it around nicely, it's worked to Davies on the edge of the box, and he unleashes a shot that cannons off an Egyptian defender which goes out for a throw-in.

21 mins: GOAL U.S. 1-0 Egypt Quite possibly one of the ugliest goals in U.S. history but U.S. fans will take it. A seemingly harmless cross from Altidore on the left is mishandled not once, but twice by El Hadary, who also suffers the ignominy of getting the ball kicked out of his hands by his own defender. Meanwhile, Davies, who was lurking in the area and gets ahold of the ball and pokes it in from a few yards out, off El Hadary's face in fact.

23 mins: We've had two minutes of stoppage as the trainers tend to El Hadary who's still down -- probably due to the fact that he also appeared to get kicked in the head from Fathi.

26 mins: El Hadary appears to be OK, although he's been given a massive bandage already for his head.

28 mins: Donovan goes on a fantastic run, beating Al Muhamadi in midfield, splits two Egyptian defenders and is clear in the box, before El Hadary comes out and makes a great save to strip the ball from him as Donovan tries to take it around him.

30 mins: A couple of minutes of sustained pressure from Egypt. Back-to-back crosses into the U.S. box looking for Eid, who fails to connect both times. It's then followed up with a nicely worked piece of approach play which splits the U.S. defense, before Aboutrika tries to bend the ball into the U.S. goal with the outside of his foot, but Guzan saves.

33 mins: Eid works down the right again, but only manages to dribble out of bounds when a cross was there for the taking. To say that he's failed to fill Zidan and/or Zaki's shoes is probably an understatement.

34 mins: Another Egyptian cross from wide, and again the U.S. defenders look very sketchy as they try to clear.

36 mins: Dempsey loses the ball twice in quick succession right outside the U.S. box, both times Egypt send in crosses that fail to find its forwards. What on earth is wrong with Dempsey? Elsewhere on the field, Spector earns a yellow taking down Shawky on the sideline. Probably a harsh card as Shawky's awkward landing made that tackle look worse than it was.

38 mins: A fantastic effort from about 30 yards about from Hosni, who launches a piledriver that beats Guzan all ends out, but just whizzes over the bar and misses by this much.

40 mins: Eid and Muhamadi work the U.S. left again with a clever one-two which leaves Muhamadi all alone to send in a dipping cross. DeMerit clears. Both U.S. flanks are looking very shaky right now.

41 mins: The Egyptians break again after the U.S. loses the ball in the Egyptian third. Aboutrika sweeps it left and the cross is sent deep over Eid's head. Eid falls over yet again looking for another penalty. That's the second time he's done that today, he should get a booking for that.

44 mins: Brazil is 3-0 up right now over Italy -- if the U.S. can find two more goals from somewhere, they could be headed for a date with Fernando Torres and Co. at this rate.

45+1 mins: Bradley sends a nice long ball to free up Davies. Davies breaks clear and slams a vicious effort goalbound and forces El Hadary to parry it away. Davies has looked very lively so far.

45+2 mins: Spector loses the ball out on the right to Eid as he's muscled off the ball (and probably fouled), then Eid breaks into the U.S. box and tries to pull it back in the 6-yard box but Onyewu cuts it out.

45+4 mins: Donovan's really starting to come into this game now as his confidence grows. First he almost sends Davies clear down the inside-right channel with a nice pass. Then, moments later he dribbles past Gomaa at the top of the box before trying to slip the ball through to a wide-open Bradley, but it's just the wrong side of him.

HALFTIME: U.S. 1-0 Egypt.

A strong first half for Bob Bradley's men, who've looked very promising going forward, albeit suspect defensively down the flanks. Davies has added good pace and movement to the U.S. front line and Donovan's been getting the ball in space, with time to run.

As for Egypt, Aboutrika and Co. seem to have underestimated the U.S. team and displayed none of the vigorous running and energy shown against Brazil and Italy. You'd have to expect that Pharaohs' coach Shehata will give them the hairdryer treatment in his halfitme speech.

46 mins: The second half is under way.

47 mins: Spector takes a throw-in but falls down and loses the ball. Egypt breaks, but just as they threaten on the top of the U.S. box, Shawky seems to hesitate before smacking a shot that takes a couple of deflections before drifting wide.

48 mins: Michael Bradley picks up his 575th career yellow card. Although in this case, it's a bit harsh since he actually didn't make contact with a late sliding tackle. Then again, at least he didn't get a red.

49 mins: Egypt makes a sub and takes off the hapless and toally ineffective Eid. Hassan comes on for him.

51 mins: Altidore has a shot cleared off the line! Dempsey leads a break, threads the ball through to Davies who pulls it back to Altidore on the top of the box. Altidore hammers it goalbound and it beats El Hadary, but is cleared off the line by Said. Appeals for a handball -- it did hit his hand, but only after it cannoned up off his thigh. Although that wasn't an intentional handball, you really have to give the penalty there since Said's hand prevented the ball from going into the net.

53 mins: In the interim, Fathi, who was largely responsible for the U.S. goal is stretchered off after coming off worse for wear in a collision with Dempsey.

56 mins: Bradley with another long-range effort to draw another good save from El Hadary.

58 mins: Egyptian corner. It's headed clear by Onyewu, who has been dominant in the air today.

60 mins: Egypt might need to use their third and final sub. Abdelghani is limping heavily and is taken off for Abougrisha. The Pharaohs are now down to literally their sixth-choice striker. Moments earlier Abdelghani almost went out in a blaze of glory after latching onto a through ball from Aboutrika -- except for the fact that (A.) he was glaringly offside and (B.) Guzan made a great save regardless.

62 mins: GOAL! U.S. 2-0 Egypt. Bradley leads a break from midfield, a nice give-and-go with Donovan, who plays it back to him and Bradley finishes with a nice sliding effort from about 15 yards out. Great stuff from Bradley and cue all the Father's Day sentiment etc. etc.

65 mins: I wouldn't put it past the U.S. to score a third here, the Egyptians look deflated.

66 mins: Benny Feilhaber is coming on, I'd guess for Dempsey, who's looked flat again today.

67 mins: Altidore gets the ball on the edge of the Egyptian box with his back facing goal, he twists and turns and beats Gomaa, before sending across a dangerous looking cross that Egypt clears. That's going to be his last contribution. Feilhaber comes on for Altidore.

70 mins: GOAL! U.S. 3-0 Egypt. Spector carries the ball down the right and sends a long ball deep to the back of the Egypt box, it's met by Dempsey, who heads it home. Amazing stuff, the U.S. is on the verge of making the semifinals if results stay the same (by virtue of equal goal difference with Italy, but having scored more goals).

72 mins: Feilhaber tries to repeat his Gold Cup heroics of a few years ago. He chests down a ball and hammers a volley but it's straight at El Hadary.

74 mins: Egypt are trying to rally here. Another raid down the flanks, and a cross comes in from the left and falls nicely at Aboutrika's feet. He tries to place it inside Guzan's left post but Clark dashes across to block. From the corner, Onyewu clears yet again.

79 mins: Egypt is maintaining possession, but not really doing anything with the ball here. I can't see them scoring.

81 mins: Casey in for Davies.

82 mins: Muhamadi is booked for a rather dirty challenge on Donovan. He actually leaped in the air and attempted to elbow Donovan in the back of the head, but failed to connect. The Egyptians look very frustrated.

86 mins: Dempsey makes a furtive run down the left and centers, but El Hadary is out swiftly to gather. He tries to kickstart a break by Egypt but there's only one player up top for Egypt. Looks like Egypt's given up the ghost in this game.

88 mins: Corner kick for Egypt, headed away by Casey. The ball is played back in and Gomaa misses a header from point-blank range. He'd nipped in behind Onyewu and ahead of Bornstein in the 6-yard box and really should have planted his header home, but headed wide and high.

90 +1 mins: We're into injury time and Brazil-Italy is a final. If the U.S. holds on, it's headed to the semis.

FULLTIME: U.S. 3-0 Egypt. It's all over. The U.S. have pulled out all the stops in remarkable fashion and the Azzurri did themselves no favors by capitulating against Brazil.

It was a comprehensive win by the U.S. and coach Bob Bradley who answered all their critics in resounding fashion. An excellent performance against a very good Egyptian side. Man of the match is a toss-up between Onyewu, who was dominant at the back today, Michael Bradley, who had a very good game in central midfield, and Donovan, who had another good game. Up next, Spain and its 35-game unbeaten streak on Wednesday.

Lineups

The lineups for both teams are in, and are as follows:

U.S.

GK: Brad Guzan

D: Jonathan Spector, Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Bornstein

M: Clint Dempsey, Ricardo Clark, Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan

F: Jozy Altidore, Charlie Davies

Egypt

GK: El Hadary

D: Ahmed Farag, Hani Said, Ahmed Fathi, Wael Gomaa

M: Hosni, Mohamed Shawky, Al Muhamadi

AM: Mohamed Aboutrika

F: Ahmed Abdelghani, Ahmed Eid

For the U.S., it looks like a basic 4-4-2 -- but, yet again there's no Jose Torres or Freddy Adu. On the bright side, coach Bob Bradley has decided to give Altidore some help up front and it's not the lumbering Conor Casey, but Swedish league speedster Charlie Davies.

On the downside, still no playing time for Adu (who's probably questioning his decision not to play for Ghana these days), Torres (who seems to be the inadvertent scapegoat for the Costa Rica loss a couple of weeks ago) and the bizarre decision to start Guzan instead of Howard. I'm really not sure what the point of switching out Howard is, especially if the U.S. is trying to win the game. If you're trying to experiment and try out youth, then why does the rest of the lineup look more or less like the lineup from the first two games. And if you're trying to win and keep with the same basic shell, why on earth are you taking out your best player in Howard? Bradley's lineup choices get stranger and stranger ...

Pregame banter

Well, after a week in South Africa that most U.S. fans probably would like to pretend never happened, the U.S. is set for its final group-stage match, against Egypt on Sunday (2:25 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPN360.com). As things stand, the U.S. is still mathematically alive for a semifinal berth -- all that needs to happen is Bob Bradley's men beat the Pharaohs by at least three goals and Italy loses to Brazil by four goals. If that sounds like a tall order, you're right. It's a sequence of events that is about as likely to happen as Paris Hilton becoming the next UNICEF ambassador.

As for Egypt, this is an impressive team that has dominated play in Africa and the African Nations Cup for years yet somehow continually fails to qualify for the World Cup. It's no real surprise to me that Egypt pushed Brazil hard and managed to beat Italy. Hassan Shehata's men play a very technical counter-attacking game, with good defensive discipline.

The Pharaohs also can count on the skills of attacking midfielder Mohamed Aboutrika, considered by many to be the best player in the world not currently playing in Europe or South America. Aboutrika, who constantly has shunned offers from Europe to continue playing domestically in Egypt for Al-Ahly, is a gifted playmaker, dubbed by fans as the Egyptian Zinedine Zidane. Where that leaves star Egyptian striker Mohamed Zidan is anybody's guess, since he is after all, technically also the Egyptian Zidan. Unfortunately, Zidan has been ruled out of the game against the U.S. with a hamstring injury he suffered against Italy, leaving Egypt without its two big-name (and very talented) strikers (Amr Zaki was ruled out just before the tournament started).

So can the U.S. take advantage of the fact that Egypt will be without two of its three biggest weapons? Bradley has indicated that while he'll make some tactical and personnel changes, he's leery of committing to a gung-ho attacking approach. Although fans clamor to see the young players such as Charlie Davies, Freddy Adu and Jose Francisco Torres, I believe the fact that the U.S. is still "alive" and the desire to avoid a third embarrassing defeat mean Bradley likely will take very few chances with his lineup. Does that mean the embattled DaMarcus Beasley will see the field and be given a chance for a career reinvention the likes of which have not been seen since the talentless Spencer Pratt became a born-again Christian? Unlikely, but you never know.

I'm predicting Bradley will come out with a 4-4-2 lineup along the following:

GK: Tim Howard

D: Jonathan Spector, Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Bornstein

M: Clint Dempsey, Benny Feilhaber, Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan

F: Conor Casey, Jozy Altidore

Historically, the two teams have only met once at senior level, with the U.S. losing 3-1 on June 8, 1987. At the junior level, Donovan, Beasley and Onyewu were part of the U.S. squad that was knocked out of the 2001 FIFA U-20 World Cup in the second round by Egypt (a 2-0 loss). In the 2005 U-20 World Cup, the U.S. (with Feilhaber, Kljestan and Adu) beat Egypt 1-0 in group play.

By the way, to answer all the e-mail questions I've received about whether Bradley is on the hot seat -- I certainly think he should be, and were this any other soccer power in the world, he probably would be.

However, as I mentioned Friday, a well-placed source in the world of U.S. soccer has told me Bob Bradley's job is not remotely in jeopardy at this point. Will that change if the U.S. suffers heavy defeats against Egypt and Mexico (Aug. 12)? Who knows? Nothing in life is certain, but as of today and right now, Bradley apparently has nothing to worry about.

I'll be back on Sunday when the game starts for a live play-by-play.