Play-by-play

The teams are on the field and lined up for the national anthems. As usual, the dulcet tones of the soothing Vuvuzelas hum softly in the background.

Marc-Scott Foe, the son of former Cameroon star Marc-Vivien Foe, who died at a tragically young age, gives a touching tribute in his father's memory.

We're all set for kickoff.

1 min: We're under way.

2 mins: A cautious start for both teams. After a Brazilian move breaks down, the U.S. passes it smoothly out of the back and works it over midfield to Jozy Altidore, who lays it off to Clint Dempsey. Dempsey is about 30 yards out, dead center. He tries his luck but skews his shot wide.

4 mins: First attack of substance for Brazil. Maicon down the right, sends in a teasing cross that is headed over by DeMerit. Corner to Brazil. It's a poor effort that is headed away by Altidore.

6 mins: Another corner for Brazil after yet another Maicon cross is cleared out of bounds, this time by Dempsey. Robinho sends in a dipping cross and it's met by Kaka at the near post, who's all alone but heads well wide. He should have done better there.

9 mins: GOAL: U.S. 1-0 Brazil. Spector out on the right sends in a deep cross, and Dempsey, who's floating free in the box, glides between Lucio and Luisao and helps it on -- the ball trickles into the far right of the Brazilian goal. That's a great finish by Dempsey and some terribly lax marking by the Brazilians.

12 mins: Brazil still looked stunned, but break in midfield, Kaka slides a perfect pass out to Robinho, who gathers it, and unleashes a daisy-cutter that looks destined to find the corner of the net, but Howard springs to his left and makes a superb save.

13 mins: From the corner, the U.S. breaks and Donovan sends Davies free with a probing ball, Davies breaks forward and looks like he can possibly break clear for a second, but he's tracked down by Lucio and the Brazilians clear for a corner. The U.S. has a couple of back-to-back corners which Brazil makes a total hash of and barely clears. The Selecao's defense is all over the shop here.

16 mins: The U.S. doesn't appear content to sit back on a one-goal lead and to its credit is still trying to take the game to Brazil. The U.S. have a free kick on the right sideline -- Donovan sends it in, and yet again the Brazilians look very shaky, taking two or three attempts to clear it. The ball falls to Kaka in midfield and he's taken down by Bocanegra, who brings him down with some authentic WWE-style manhandling. That's a clear yellow for the U.S. captain.

19 mins: The Brazilians don't appear flustered yet and are still being patient in their build-up. They're sweeping the ball from side to side but not finding much room. Santos tees up a long-range effort which is charged down by several U.S. players.

21 mins: Spector misjudges a ball down the line and lets Robinho take the ball off his feet. Robinho cuts inside and sends a chip across the U.S. box which looks destined to fall for Fabiano in the 6-yard box, but Onyewu reaches back and heads clear. Huge play by Onyewu.

24 mins: A couple of chances in quick succession for Brazil. First, another cross from the dangerous Maicon falls at the feet of Robinho just outside the 6-yard box. He controls and tries to sidefoot into the far corner, but a couple of U.S. players fling themselves in front of him to block. The ball is half cleared, but only as far as Melo outside the box. Melo drives a low shot to Howard's right, but Howard makes another good stop.

25 mins: Another fantastic save by Howard. Maicon breaks free again down the right, and hammers a low drive across the box, not sure if that's a shot on goal or a wayward cross, but it's headed inside the U.S. near post until Howard dives down and parries it.

26 mins: GOAL! U.S. 2-0 Brazil. Unbelievable stuff. The U.S. break from a Brazilian corner, and Donovan leads the way, he's got Davies up with him, lays it out wide to Davies who sends it back to Donovan at the top of the box. Donovan cuts inside Ramires and hits a left-footed shot that sends Cesar the wrong way and finds the corner of the net. Terrific finish by Donovan.

29 mins: Almost a third for the U.S. Dempsey cuts inside from the left sideline and dinks a little cross into the box, it clears all the Brazilian defenders and almost finds Altidore who's wide open in the box.

31 mins: I think it's safe to say that if the world didn't take notice of the Spain result, or if they wrote it off as a one-time fluke, they're certainly taking notice now. Again though, one has to ask -- how does a team that lost to Costa Rica recently and got played off the park by El Salvador, turn it around to beat Spain and then do this to Brazil?

32 mins: I'm not sure the Brazilians can come back from this. Dunga's got his squad drilled to counter attack and soak up pressure. It's not well-equipped to attack with abandon. If the Selecao are to come back, they're going to have to bring on Alexandre Pato and/or Dani Alves.

34 mins: Robinho and Santos play a one-two on the edge of the U.S. box which carves open the U.S. defense. Santos breaks free into the U.S. 6-yard box and tries to lift the ball over Howard, but Howard makes another great stop. From the corner, the cross is sent in and Fabiano heads over. A good chance, he needed to do better there.

35 mins: Altidore beats Santos inside out down the left and is summarily brought down. That's a yellow for Santos. Free kick in a dangerous spot but it's cleared by Brazil for a corner. Donovan's corner is gathered by Cesar. Brazil break and Fabiano is hauled down as he enters the U.S. third.

37 mins: The free kick is a little too far out and the Brazilians work it out wide to Maicon, who sends in another cross. It's cleared and the U.S. break with Davies, who's one on one out on the left against Luisao. He tries to cut inside, but the ball dribbles too far off his foot and Luisao hoofs it clear. That was distinctly un-Brazilian by Luisao.

40 mins: In random news, the mystery of crop circles in poppy fields in Australia's southern island state of Tasmania has been solved -- stoned wallabies are eating the poppy heads and hopping around in circles. Rather like the Brazilian team that's been completely directionless since the U.S. scored its second goal. If ever a team needed a halftime talk and some tactical readjustment, it's Brazil.

42 mins: Brazil still working the ball from right to left and left to right. Kaka squares it to Melo, who sends it out to Maicon, who optimistically tries to catch Howard off guard with a snap shot. It's wide right.

43 mins: Robinho with the ball again, running at the U.S. defense from the left wing. He has a chance to slide Kaka clear, but Feilhaber steps in and takes the ball away.

44 mins: Corner for Brazil after Melo tries yet another long-range effort which is deflected. The corner is deep into the U.S. box but headed up in the air and Howard gathers. The U.S. will take that all day long, it's doubtful that Brazil are going to trouble the center back pairing of Onyewu and DeMerit that way.

45+1 mins: Maicon again, down the right and sends in a cross that looks destined to fall to one of several Brazilians lurking in the 6-yard box, but Bocanegra stretches out and deflects it just enough that it sails inches over Fabiano's outstretched leg.

HALFTIME: U.S. 2-0 Brazil.

It's safe to say that almost no one saw this halftime scoreline coming. Another half like that, and the U.S. are about to win the Confederations Cup and probably earn themselves an invite to the White House, the Late Show and a Weetabix box cover.

It's also safe to say that the only people happier than U.S. fans right now are the Spanish team, who can now direct their critics to the result on Wednesday and say that at least they kept it closer in the first half than Brazil did.

An e-mail from Adam in Minnesota who says:

Clearly the USA's success stems from the simple fact that Bob Bradley woke up and benched the inept DaMarcus Beasley and Sacha Kljestan. It's no coincidence that since they've stopped playing, the USA has looked like a different side.

Can't argue with that ...

45 mins: We're under way in the second half. No changes for either side. Strange decision by Dunga -- surely he can't be happy with the way his lineup performed?

46 mins: GOAL: U.S. 2-1 Brazil. Oops, I spoke too soon. Shows you how much I know. Maicon out on the right, whips in a cross that finds Fabiano on the edge of the box. He's stood up by DeMerit but turns and whips a vicious low left-footed shot that beats Howard. Great finish.

49 mins: Great overlapping run by Feilhaber, who latches onto a cheeky back heel by Donovan to break into the Brazilian box. He carries it to the byline before trying to clip it back across the box, but Cesar parries and gathers after the ball runs free. Davies was in the vicinity and lurking, it was almost shades of the U.S. team's first goal against Egypt.

51 mins: The U.S. almost breaks the Brazilian defense open. Donovan with another scything run up the middle, sends Davies free down the left. Davies cuts inside on the edge of the U.S.' box and squares to Dempsey, whose first touch lets him down and allows Santos to dispossess him. Brazil clears. In the meantime, Kaka is wrestled down by Feilhaber, who earns himself a yellow.

53 mins: Kaka with another break, storms up the middle and looks set to send Robinho into the clear. His pass is just too far from Robinho but meanwhile, Feilhaber is whistled for tugging on the back of Kaka's jersey. Lucio takes the free kick but slams it straight into the wall. Poor effort, and Brazil fans must be wondering why Lucio took that.

57 mins: Kaka pops up on the left now and takes on Spector, driving to the byline, and Spector is forced to make a sliding tackle out for a corner. From the corner, Lucio is wide open at the far side of the box and heads it goal-bound, and Howard yet again responds with another huge save. The rebound falls to Silva, who shanks it skyward in a way that defies description.

59 mins: Brazil is turning the screw now, but Dunga's men are still trailing, and it's only a matter of time before they start to get desperate. From the left, Santos sends in a deep cross, and once again there's a Brazilian wide open in the 6-yard box. This time it's Kaka who heads it down, and Howard makes another save. The Brazilians claim that the ball crossed the line, and from replays it appears that the ball did in fact cross the line. A huge let-off for the U.S. there.

64 mins: The Brazilians are dominating, sweeping down the flanks at will and sending in dangerous cross after dangerous cross. However, the U.S. steps back with back-to-back long-range efforts from both Donovan and Dempsey that force Cesar to make a pair of fine saves. This is back-and-forth stuff and hugely entertaining.

66 mins: Alves in for Santos.

67 mins: Elano in for Ramires. Dunga rolls the dice and brings on two attacking subs.

69 mins: Lucio gets a yellow for some sort of misdemeanor. Not sure what he did exactly, but it involved a shove on Altidore in midfield and an exchange of words with the ref.

70 mins: Fabiano is put through, clean on goal. He's one-on-one with Howard, who dives, blocks his shot and gathers the ball. What a miss from Fabiano, and what a save again from Howard.

72 mins: On the other end, Davies gets the ball and races off toward the Brazilian box. He beats two defenders and almost beats the final defender, but Luisao slides and nicks it away from him at the last second. The ball is sent to Melo in midfield. He cracks a shot from about 55 yards out. Brazil is definitely getting desperate here.

74 mins: GOAL: U.S. 2-2 Brazil. Kaka skins Spector down the left, gets the byline and pulls back a delightful cross across the U.S.' box. It reaches Robinho, who is 3 yards out and only has to side-foot into a wide-open net but somehow contrives to hit the crossbar. The ball ricochets down and looks as though it might have crossed the line, but it isn't given. In the ensuing chaos, Fabiano jumps to head home the ball from about 5 yards out.

75 mins: Two changes for the U.S. Sacha Kljestan in for Feilhaber. Jonathan Bornstein in for Altidore. Dempsey will presumably move up top again.

78 mins: Melo clatters Donovan out near the halfway line, jumping for a long ball. Melo will need to be careful, as he's already on a yellow. Donovan sends a great-looking cross deep into the Brazilian box, but Cesar races out and snatches it off the head of Dempsey.

80 mins: Bornstein picks up a loose ball in midfield after Lucio makes a mess of a clearance. He tries to send Dempsey clear, but it's blocked, so Bornstein gathers the rebound and tries his luck. It's well wide left.

82 mins: Kaka surges down the left again. Cuts into the box but is tackled by Spector. The ball runs to Robinho on the top of the box, and he dribbles around to his right before unleashing a fierce shot that is just high and wide. That wasn't too far off.

83 mins: Fabiano gets the ball from Maicon at the top of the box, makes a sharp turn to his left and is momentarily free for a shot, but DeMerit slides over heroically to block. Fantastic defending. It's a corner.

85 mins: GOAL. Brazil 3-2 U.S. Elano sends in a deep cross, and Lucio meets it about 15 yards out with a thunderous header that smashes into the roof of the net. Howard had no chance. Lucio was marked by Dempsey there but basically had a free header.

86 mins: Brazil is still pouring forward and is caught on the break. Dempsey gets the ball but doesn't have a lot of support. Luisao comes across and clears the ball with authority. Corner for the U.S. Another good cross, and it's met by Onyewu with force, but his header sails over. Conor Casey in for Clark.

88 mins: Kaka gathers the ball once again; he's been full of energy today. He has the ball on the edge of the U.S.' box, shadowed by Spector. Kaka feints and sends a curler goal-bound, looking for Howard's left corner, but it's wide.

90 mins: We will have three minutes of stoppage time. Do the U.S. players have another miracle left in them?

90+1: Kljestan wins the ball in midfield, but with a chance to send Davies clear down the right, he decides to pass it straight back to Lucio instead.

90 mins+2: Brazil with some blatant time-wasting on the sideline with the throw-in. Maicon, with the studied insouciance of a man deciding whether to sit down to read a paper or light his cigar for a smoke, takes an eternity to throw the ball in.

FULLTIME: Brazil 3-2 U.S.

It's all over. The U.S. team falls just short with a heroic effort against Brazil. Having said that, the U.S. was almost a nonfactor in the second half, struggling to maintain possession and trying to hold on against the Brazilian siege. However, the U.S.' first-half performance was spectacular before it perhaps ran out of gas in the second half. Bradley's two subs were curious choices to say the least and didn't bring anything to the table.

Overall, U.S. fans have to be extremely proud of the team and its performance today. If nothing else, U.S. fans can take heart in how it clearly shows that the performance against Spain wasn't a fluke.

Lineups

The starting lineups have been announced as follows:

For the U.S., it's the same team that beat Spain other than Benny Feilhaber stepping into the middle to replace the suspended Michael Bradley.

GK: Tim Howard

D: Jonathan Spector, Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit, Carlos Bocanegra

M: Clint Dempsey, Feilhaber, Ricardo Clark, Landon Donovan

F: Charlie Davies, Jozy Altidore

For Brazil, coach Dunga has resisted the urge to get both of his world-class right backs, Maicon and Dani Alves, on the field at once.

GK: Julio Cesar

D: Maicon, Lucio, Luisao, Andre Santos

M: Felipe Melo, Gilberto Silva

M: Kaka, Ramires

F: Luis Fabiano, Robinho

U.S. fans are of course familiar with the career record of the U.S. team against Brazil, having lost 13 of its 14 games against the Selecao. However, all U.S. fans also remember the epic 1-0 win in the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup, when the U.S. sneaked a goal, and its defense and goalkeeper Kasey Keller stood on their heads to deny the Brazilians an equalizer. One suspects that a similar formula will need to be in the offing for a win today, or can the U.S. simply take it to Brazil and shock the world a second time? We're nearing kickoff.

The referee will be Martin Hansson of Sweden. Linesmen Henrik Andren and Fredrik Nilsson are also from Sweden, while Benito Archundia of Mexico will be the fourth official.

Pregame analysis

The U.S. team's remarkable 2-0 win over Spain on Wednesday certainly garnered a lot of postmatch attention across the States, and generated comparisons about where the magnitude of the victory stood, not just in U.S. Soccer history but in the annals of seminal American victories like the incomparable "Miracle on Ice" in the 1980 Winter Olympics. If the goal was to simply raise the profile of the sport and the U.S. team back home, coach Bob Bradley's men certainly achieved that. On the other hand, if earning the respect of the world's football cognoscenti is at all important, there remains one more large hurdle to overcome.

Across Europe, the win over Spain, while greeted with varying degrees of surprise, was largely dismissed as one of those fluke aberrations you see from time to time in soccer. Most analysts and experts pointed to it as evidence that Spain merely returned to its well-chronicled past history of choking and throwing away games against inferior opposition -- a reputation that had dimmed somewhat since Spain's Euro 2008 triumph -- in a tournament that is widely regarded as nothing more than a glorified end-of-season exhibition.

While it's true that the level of intensity displayed by traditional soccer powers in the Confederations Cup hardly matches that of the World Cup, it would be unfair to suggest that either Spain or Brazil were/are not intent on winning this tournament. The postmatch tears and statements by several of the Spanish team members certainly contradict anyone who thinks that.

Whatever false perceptions exist out there about the U.S. being fortunate in its win against Spain (let's be clear, the U.S. was fully deserving) are likely to dissipate further, should the U.S. manage to pull off yet another upset Sunday against Brazil (2 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN360.com). For the U.S., win or lose, this game is important to show the doubters that it's a team that has indeed finally taken that step up, and is capable of beating top teams in more than just one off-occasion.

The big question, of course, is whether the U.S. is capable of doing so, especially after a sound thrashing by the Brazilians in the group stages, a game in which the U.S. looked barely competitive and came out looking tentative from the onset.

Of course, a lot has changed since then. The U.S. seems to have finally settled on its best lineup for this tournament, and it's apparent to all that the U.S. players have either gained a second wind (note midfielder Clint Dempsey tracking back continuously on defense against Spain, something he had seemingly declined to do in the group stage matches) or have revived the time-old traits of the U.S. team and re-emphasized heart, energy and hustle. Tactically, I don't think much has changed, Bradley will once again emphasize defense and counter attacking play, and if the U.S. manages to snatch a goal first, it will likely go into a heavily defensive mode again, as it did against Spain.

Against Spain, the U.S. opted to concede the flanks and try to clog the middle, confident that its two center backs Oguchi Onyewu and Jay DeMerit could nullify the Spanish in the air. Given that Fernando Torres is a far greater threat in the air than anyone on the Brazilian team, we could well see a repeat of this strategy against Brazil. However, unlike Spain, who foolishly played the U.S. without a defensive midfielder in its lineup and didn't even have a midfielder on the field that could be classified as a competent tackler, Brazil plays with two pure DMs. To bypass them, the U.S. midfield will need to ensure that it reduces its penchant for wayward passes and careless turnovers, a problem that might be compounded by the absence of Michael Bradley because of suspension.

This is where it will get tricky since this is a new-age Brazil, which under its present coach, Dunga, has adopted much more of a defensive approach than previous iterations of the Selecao, and seeks to soak up opposition pressure before counter attacking. If anything, this Brazil prefers to defend deep, hoping to pick off stray passes in midfield before employing its rapid countering.

Historically, Brazilian teams have lined up with what is usually described as a 4-4-2 in the Brazilian press but plays out effectively as a 4-2-2-2. Brazil has always played with two "volantes," or defensive midfielders, the first of which (in this case, Gilberto Silva) plays as a pseudo-center back in a deep-lying sweeper, defensive role. Silva's job is to essentially cover the spaces left by the attacking wing backs (either Maicon or Dani Alves on the right and Andre Santos on the left). The second volante, Felipe Melo, also has defensive duties, but has more freedom to attack and to link to the Brazilian forwards.

Where Dunga has differed from most of his predecessors is that instead of playing the usual two "meias," or attacking midfielders, ahead of Silva and Melo, he's opted for just one (the gifted Kaká). His penchant for typically utilizing a third volante in midfield has drawn the ire of the Brazilian media. During the Confederations Cup however, Dunga's actually showed unusual attacking initiative (by his standards) in choosing Ramires as the fourth midfielder. While Ramires still is considered to be a defensive midfielder by Brazilians, he's one with slightly more attacking instincts. So far in South Africa, Ramires has been active raiding up and down the flanks (predominantly on the right). He's not a true offensive threat and it's still not the same as employing a second attacking midfielder, but at least Dunga's not opting for someone like Josue in that spot.

If Brazil has a weakness, it's on the left side, where Santos has looked shaky defensively at times in the tournament and where the support striker Robinho isn't really noted for either his inclination or ability to track back and help. It becomes a dilemma for opposition coaches. Does one push forward down the right and try to exploit Santos down the left, thereby exposing one's own right flank to the mercurial and explosive Robinho, or does one strategize towards nullifying Robinho's threat instead?

There's only one way to find out. I'll be back on Sunday when the game starts with a live play-by-play.