US excited just for chance to play Brazil in final

Andrew Dampf ,  The Associated Press ,  Johannesburg   |  Sat, 06/27/2009 9:34 PM  |  Sports

The United States is excited just to have the opportunity to play in a final. For Brazil, Sunday's Confederations Cup match is merely the latest in a long history of championship games.

"The opportunity to be in the final is special to all of us," United States coach Bob Bradley said ahead of the American men's first FIFA final on any level.

Five-time world champion Brazil is playing in its fourth Confederations Cup final and seeking its record third title.

"It was important to reach the final regardless of the opponent," Brazil striker Luis Fabiano said. "We were expecting to play against Spain because it was the favorite team and was playing well. But what matters is that Brazil does its job to reach our goal of winning the title."

Last week, Brazil beat the Americans 3-0 with goals from Maicon, Robinho and Felipe Melo - combined with a red card to United States midfielder Sacha Kljestan. The Americans turned their fortunes around immediately after that game, beating Egypt 3-0 to squeak through from the group stage, then stunning European champion Spain 2-0 in the semifinals.

Beating Spain and Brazil in succession would merit a special place in history for the United States.

The Americans have only beaten Brazil once in 14 tries. Former goalkeeper Kasey Keller shut down the South Americans' fast-paced attack and Preki scored a second-half goal in a 1-0 victory during the 1998 Gold Cup.

Tim Howard will be in goal this time to face Kaka, Robinho and Luis Fabiano at Ellis Park.

"In our history, our national team has had some important and very big victories, but we have not won a major competition," Bradley said. "We won the Gold Cup, which made us champions of CONCACAF - that's the reason we're here - but to win now a major competition where you play the likes of Brazil, Spain, Italy and Egypt would be incredibly special."

Complicating matters for the United States will be the absence of key midfielder Michael Bradley, who picked up a red card in the final minutes of the victory over Spain. Benny Feilhaber will likely replace the coach's son.

Feilhaber came on in the Americans' opening 3-1 loss to Italy after Ricardo Clark received a red card, and he also played in a recent World Cup qualifier against Honduras.

Brazil coach Dunga is likely to keep the same lineup from the semifinals. Although Daniel Alves gave Brazil the late winner coming off the bench, Maicon is expected to stay at right back.

Luis Fabiano said he has a flu and had trouble sleeping after the match against South Africa with a fever, but should be ready to play.

"The United States is a team very strong tactically, with obedient players," Dunga said. "It is dangerous on counterattacks and creates a lot of difficulties for its opponents. The players keep their concentration throughout the 90 minutes. It's a very complicated opponent for us."

Felipe Melo put Brazil ahead after only seven minutes of last week's match with the United States. Robinho made it 2-0 in the 20th and Maicon added a third in the 62nd after the Americans were reduced to 10 men.

"It's a match of patience," Dunga said. "Of course we would like to score early, but that depends a lot on how the match will be played. [The first match] was different. Now they're more consistent. They have more confidence because of their results. We have to impose our rhythm, staying more with the ball and taking advantage of our characteristics."

Coach Bradley admired South Africa's tactics against Brazil in the semifinals, when Bafana Bafana held Brazil at bay until a late free kick from Alves.

"When you play Brazil the first thing you look at is the talent in the way they go forward," Bradley said. "In particular in this tournament they've been very good going forward from deep positions, where they have space and the speed of Kaka and Robinho come into play, and those are dangerous situations.

"They've also been very good on set pieces. So it's in those two areas where we realize how important it is, but that doesn't mean we don't see the other things - the midfield is strong, the defense is strong. It's a good team."

One advantage for the Americans is that they played their semifinal match a day ahead of Brazil's game with South Africa.

"The extra day of rest will definitely help," United States captain Carlos Bocanegra said. "But those guys are used to playing every three days. It's a final, so it doesn't take much to recover for this."


Associated Press writer Tales Azzoni contributed to this report.

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