by Greg Seltzer for Soccer365

On an evening where emotions probably ranged from "Oh dear Lord, we can win the Confederations Cup!" to "Oh dear Lord, we've missed a chance to win the Confederations Cup!", the U.S. National Team put in nearly 80% of an instant classic performance in their 3-2 final loss to Brazil.

Sadly for one day, games are 90 minutes instead of 70, but the Red, White & Blue have plenty to be proud of after turning the tide on their World Cup 2010 drive with a splendid week of play.

Clearly sucking wind near the end having played four of their five games in South Africa largely on the back foot (or at least the cautious, defensive-minded, opportunistic foot), the 'Nats ended up easy prey for the CONMEBOL trophy hawks. That being said, they brought U.S. soccer closer to a FIFA men's championship than ever before.

The lessons are large at this level, but so are the payoffs. No matter the sport, first time finalists don't usually beat the stalwarts. It's the ones who return that eventually get their moment in the appropriately colored confetti.

It all started out so boldly, too. Before kickoff, I jotted down several keys to victory for the USMNT and they checked off every one of them in stunning everyone with a monster first half effort.

Brazil were well contained in the opening 10 minutes, which closed with Clint Dempsey's third goal in as many games. Landon Donovan free and corner kicks were causing trouble. The counter attack made its mark in spectacular form when the homegrown superstar put his side up two. The U.S. had come to play some attitude football - not more than they could handle, but enough to win.

At the back, the defensive shape was a living and breathing organism, stretching and withdrawing to slow the wizards in yellow. In fact, the half hour arrived with Brazil only having taken three shots, while the Americans had scored on both of their goal attempts. It was all so efficient, yet adequately threatening.

And then... bad decisions were made on the bench, the second half saw a nightmare start, the offensive pressure valves went faulty, the back lost concentration a couple of times and the prize suddenly slipped away to familiar hands.

Just before Brazil brought on a pair of influential subs in the 66th, the U.S. enjoyed a solid minute of possession that yielded two shots and a corner kick. I thought to myself, if they can do that for even 40% of the ball the rest of the way, they will be able to get out of here with the cup.

The Brazil barrage started just a few minutes later and it didn't let up until long USMNT faces were being reflected in a silver frown. It was a fun ride for the team and the fans, but with a year to go until they (presumably) make a return trip to South Africa for bigger stakes, the question will quickly come up: was this a peak event or the start of an exciting new chapter?

The next clue comes in August...

U.S. PLAYER RATINGS

Tim Howard (9) - It was largely another command performance from the tourney's Golden Glove winner... but even command peformers start to show the odd crack after nearly 50 shots in two games over four days. To his minor demerit, the Everton backstop was just a tad slow to a screen shot on Brazil's icebreaker and would probably admit to wanting another chance at the winner, which just squeezed past his hand at the post. Beyond those petty gripes, the highlights were many: smothering an André Santos blast without the slightest rebound, his anticipation save on Luis Fabiano, a huge corner kick stop on Lúcio before the winner. He also completely sold the officials on the close call at the hour - it's hard to be sure, but it seemed like it may have been in and Timmy didn't blink in moving play along. After this week, there can be little doubt that Howard is now among the top 10-15 keepers in the world.

Jonathan Spector (6) - This grade would have been higher if logged at the hour. Unsurprisingly, Spector started to lose energy late in the knockout games after missing much of the season at West Ham United due to an injury. He held up to Premiership foe Robinho fairly well, but starting losing crossers once Kaká began working the left - it was the Real Madrid man's speed move past the right back that set up Brazil's second. He again showed the value of a deep crossing game with his curling assist on the U.S. opener.

Jay DeMerit (7.5) - Another grade that slipped in the waning moments belonged to the Watford skipper, who also seemed to run out of fuel and tricks to stop Brazil. DeMerit was huge most of the day, though, with plenty of tidy work to his credit. On the bad side, he was slow to pressure Luis Fabiano just after the break. He may well have made up for that when he later pulled off an urgent block on the Sevilla star, one of many such feats in the tournament. Set to run out of contract, I'd gather DeMerit's agent has heard a few rings today.

Oguchi Onyewu (8.5) - Until the second Brazil goal, Gooch may not have placed a wrong foot - and I don't use that phrase very often, so you know I mean it. Yes, he was caught pinball watching for a fatal second on the equalizer, but the rest of the day was a full blown infomercial for the free agent's mighty services. He was making blocks, clearing the sky, scaring away playmaking lanes, completing passes out of the back and finally darn near tied the match back up with a late corner kick header. Gentleman, start your checkbooks.

Carlos Bocanegra (5.5) - If this was the acid test for whether or not he should play left back for the USMNT, then I'd say the jury is still out. Let's not forget that he was out with a muscle problem last week, so it's hard to tell if that was his 100%. Bocanegra clearly had more trouble getting in front of crossers as the game progressed to the late stages. His best moment of the night was a classy cross deflection that threw off Luis Fabiano on the edge of halftime, which is probably not what you'd want to report of a captain after three second half goals overcome your halftime lead. There were certainly several nervous ballhandling moments up the wing.

Ricardo Clark (6.5) - Give the Dynamo rock his credit, he made it difficult for Brazil to move quickly through the middle of the park for most of the match. It was his responsibility to oversee defensive chores in central midfield, and he came through for the most part. One could say he kinda wandered from his station on the Brazil opener, but one could also point to another set of amazing shot blocks. After a couple of early turnovers on unneccesarily risky passes, Clark kept things simple and moving, always vital against a ballhawk/quick strike team like Brazil. It was his outlet play that set the U.S. off and running towards the second goal. I'd still place him fourth (or fifth with Jermaine Jones apparently joining up soon) on the depth chart for two positions, but we found out this week that he is capable of raising his game beyond CONCACAF.

Benny Feilhaber (6.5) - Given a very difficult assigment, the Brazilian-born midfielder's removal definitely hurt the team's ability to move forward. It was not a star show, but he did make a small bushel of big "little things" plays all over the field. The halftime decision to switch modes greatly limited his effectiveness across midfield, the place he naturally belongs in a perfect world. That being said, Feilhaber served notice that he was not out of the running for a World Cup place just yet, as so many observers have loudly assumed since the buzz from his Gold Cup 2007 winner subsided. He didn't try to do too much on Sunday, which was very important for this match-up. And by staying within the framework of the game plan, he was actually able to do quite a bit.

Clint Dempsey (5.5) - At halftime, I'd have rated him at a "7" - or perhaps even a tad higher. We talked about fatigue last week and I think his impressive second wind ended around 9:15 PM Johannesburg time last night. MC Deuce certainly was not as vigilant on the backtrack as against Spain, and it was needed. I'm still not certain he actually touched the first U.S. goal on the way in, but at the very least, his kicking motion momentarily froze the keeper - so let's just call it brilliant and be done with it. Either way, he scored in three straight games to threaten for the Golden Shoe. After the break, things went downhill steadily until he misjudged the corner kick just in front match winner Lúcio. Of course, a fresher player might have taken the extra step and not leaned back into his leap.

Landon Donovan (7.5) - Like Dempsey, he was not quite as helpful in defense as he was against Spain. The Galaxy star also failed to play a dangerous cross when given the opportunity with a minute to play. This episode was especially disappointing consider he dropped seven of eight danger restarts into the mix during the match. Past the few bad points, Donovan again ran his tail off and again sparked the transition game, most notably on the lightning counter that ended with a splendid goal.

Charlie Davies (7) - After being left out of last week's 3-0 loss to Brazil, the Hammarby forward showed he had a little bit of samba in as step as well. Though much of his attack impact came before intermission he continued finding ways to contribute - such as chasing down one of his own turnovers, which he did a few tmes. His overall passing was below average, but the one on the fly that set up Donovan's goal was inch-perfect.

Josmer Altidore (6) - As happened in nearly every cup match, Jozy gradually settled into his touches, flicks and lay offs. He also did some nice work defending set pieces through the day. Altidore would tell you he didn't do enough, but that just tells me he isn't asking any quarter for the degree of difficulty in playing Brazil... in a final... after not having played club ball since December. Though they didn't force any big turnovers, he relentlessly pressured Brazil at the back in tandem with Davies - there's always something to be said for slowing down that team's build.

Coach Bob Bradley (5.5) - It's hard to mark him below average for managing the second half collpase because he also orchestrated the two-goal lead. In the end, I did because some poor adjustments were made at the cost of a Confederations Cup crown.

Let's start with the bad news, shall we? The team somehow came out flat after the break, which rightfully should have seen the choice to pull the reins back a bit scrapped immediately after Brazil got on the board. When Seleção subs came on to make hay past the hour, it took the boss eight minutes to make counter moves - and when he did, they were neither helpful nor inspiring.

Removing Feilhaber, who had a short season in Denmark and had only played 145 tournament minutes before Sunday, shorted the circuit that turns defense into offense. His latch ditch effort to stoke the attack also arrived slowly and provided little.

Lest we get too rough on the first coach to ever lead the USMNT to a FIFA runners up finish, there were also positives to note from Sunday. The first half was sublime and Bradley's team clearly came to win the trophy.

On final analysis, perhaps the most confusing thing about the way the U.S. National Team let an amazing lead slip away against old hat champions Brazil was the paradox of our coach's convictions, with both going awry on him Sunday. On one hand. he stubbornly continued to display a cloying over-reliance on former MLS charges.

However, it was the surprise surrender of his finally perfected tactical approach that got them to the second half of a Confederations Cup final with a 2-0 lead in the first place that actually allowed the winningest team on the planet to do what they can do in their sleep. Like his players, Bradley has now learned three important things: that he is capable of beating the big boys, how much it takes to get to the edge of glory and how much more must be done to grab it all next time.

Subs:

Sacha Kljestan (5) - Asked to do what he shouldn't be asked to do (let alone against Brazil in a final), the Chivas USA star had difficulty meeting the speed of the game for several minutes. To his credit, he did his best to cover ground and apply defensive pressure - but what we really needed him to in a 2-2 match was help tilt the pitch away from the U.S. end.

Jonathan Bornstein (4) - A truly perplexing midfield sub choice considering the player's lack of size, experience and snap decision making on the ball. The biggest problem on this night came on a late attack rush: Bornstein failed at an entry ball attempt, then fired a wayward shot from distance when the original runner to his right had all the space in the world to shoot.

Conor Casey (-) - Not enough time for grading.

Soccer365 reporter Greg Seltzer blogs daily over at No Short Corners. Questions, comments, kudos or complaints? Email him at greg@noshortcorners.com.

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