Brazil Wakes Up and Blazes Past US

It was always to be expected, the classy Brazilians shifting up the gears and finding the moments of inspiration to blow past the gritty Americans. (In case you missed it, Brazil won 3-2.) The storyline was practically written before the game.

Except for one half of soccer that nearly set the United States up for the greatest victory in its history.

Playing the same kind of dogged defense they used against Spain, they broke away on counter-attacks twice to shock Brazil and take a 2-0 lead. Clint Dempsey anchored the midfield and broke free in the box for the first goal before Landon Donovan, delivering his best big-game performance in recent memory, produced a lovely bit of skill to fire home the second.

The problem was that Bob Bradley's style was never going to last 90 minutes. And ultimately, the defeat will fall on his shoulders. For virtually the entire game, the United States defended so deep that there wasn't the slightest room for error. They invited wave after wave of Brazilian pressure and never had the weapons to push back. They lacked the players to hold up the ball at the top of the field and lacked the imagination to spread it wide.

Spain might have had a bad day with a host of chances at their disposal, but Brazil was not going to do the same. A brilliant goal less than a minute into the second half took the wind out of the Americans' sails. After that, the U.S. never produced anything more than a half-chance. Oguchi Onyewu's free header over the bar stands out as their best opportunity of the half.

The more the US allowed Brazil to hold on to the ball, the more Brazil seemed to ooze confidence. They would stroke it up to the final third of the field and then take whatever space the US would give them and it proved to be just enough. Brazil was robbed of a goal when the linesman thought Tim Howard had parried an effort before it crossed the line when, in fact, it had.

And as the game wore on, the American legs grew heavier and the yellow jerseys swarmed into the box. Two goals followed and the US was back to its usual self. Without inspiration and without answers — practically the motto of Bradley's tenure.

That is probably the greatest cost of Sunday's defeat. That they lost to Brazil in the final of the Confederations Cup only has a short term impact. More worrisome is that it likely saved Bradley from the hot seat until at least next summer's World Cup. I'm afraid that until then American fans may have to just expect more of the same style of defend-and-hope-for-the-best soccer.