US vs Brazil

[Newcastle]

PRETORIA, South Africa -- If this was a dress rehearsal for next year's World Cup, the United States showed it's far from ready.

The U.S. was hammered for the second time in a four-day span at the Confederations Cup, with Brazil outplaying the Americans 3-0 Thursday.

Felipe Melo scored off Maicon's free kick in the seventh minute and Robinho made it 2-0 in the 20th, completing a counterattack that began when DaMarcus Beasley failed to come up with a short corner kick. Maicon added the third goal in the 62nd.

The United States (0-2) finished a man short for the second straight game. Sacha Kljestan was ejected by Swiss referee Massimo Busacca in the 57th minute for a rough foul on Ramires.

"Tentative start, goal on the set piece," U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. "Just an awfully difficult way to start vs. Brazil."

Combined with an opening 3-1 loss to Italy on Monday, the defeat put the United States on the verge of first-round elimination. While the U.S. plays Egypt on Sunday, the Americans would have no chance to advance if Italy gained at least a tie against the Egyptians later Thursday.

Missing injured defenders Carlos Bocanegra, Steve Cherundolo and Frankie Hejduk, the U.S. been shaky in the back. Melo's goal marked the third time in four matches the United States fell behind within the first seven minutes.

The U.S. has never overcome a deficit against Brazil, which improved to 13-1 in head-to-head meetings and has outscored the United States 26-8. The lone American victory was a 1-0 upset at the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Brazil (2-0), the defending Confederations Cup champion and a five-time World Cup winner, opened with a 4-3 victory over Egypt and is assured a berth in the semifinals going into its final first-round match, against Italy on Sunday.

Melo beat defender Jonathan Spector for the first goal, taking Maicon's 25-yard free kick following a foul by Michael Bradley and heading it past goalkeeper Tim Howard from about 5 yards.

The second goal came on an end-to-end effort after Beasley failed to read Landon Donovan's short corner kick. Andres Santos cleared to Kaka, the 2007 FIFA player to the year, who touched the ball to Ramires. He dribbled 50 yards upfield before dishing off to Robinho.

Maicon got the third goal off passes from Kaka and Ramires, with the last pass bouncing off defender Jonathan Bornstein right by the goal.

The closest the U.S. came to scoring was when second-half substitutes Benny Feilhaber and Conor Casey hit the crossbar in the final 10 minutes.

[Newcastle]

I am so depressed...poor passing, poor marking, poor coaching...these are just are my opinions, but somethings have got to change...I know there are some key injuries but I feel the issues are bigger than that...

[bullets13]

i taped this, and was going to wait to see the score when i got home to watch it, but i accidently saw it on espn.com, and i'm glad i didn't waste 90 minutes of my life on it.

[Newcastle]

i did waste 90 plus min on this...my wife left the house before the first half was over!  No, she did not watch, she was just tired of me screaming at the tv.  The last thing she said was "THEY CAN"T HEAR YOU!"

I really cant think of anything positive to say about the game...

[soccermom]

:D - That's funny - I am not sure if the Greenway boys watched or not but I can bet you if they were - they were screaming at the TV too.

[Guest Statesman09]

No didnt feel like getting up to watch this one and glad i didnt but from what i saw on the highlights  :-\ it didnt look good... Maicon had a free header and then our poor short corner attempt ended up giving brazil a counter attack goal?! so other than that im glad i didnt wake up to watch this one!

But ya something has to be done...either its the coaching or the team or maybe we need some new faces in the line up because other than that the team just isnt looking good at all

[RonBurgundy68]

I'm gunna agree with what I heard John Harkes say... Now is the time to let the unknowns get their chance and prove themselves... Heck we have a league full of talent that could blossom into an amazing national team, but looks like we will never know because they aren't given a chance... Just a few names: Stuart Holden, Davy Arnaud, Kenny Cooper, Chris Rolfe, Chris Pontius, etc...

[dme1111]

I'm not sure this group has what it takes to win.  They look so overmatched by Brazil and Italy.  They are just ugly to watch.  They have such little skill compared to the other teams.  I agree, give the unknowns a chance.  This can't be the best America has to offer

[dogbone]

I just cannotfigure out why he even has Beasley on the roster when mentioning some of these "unknowns".  I'm a beasley fan, but the guy has not played well for some time.  Is he thinking more playing time and he'll come around?  Come on, he's one of the "experienced players", he shouldnt need time, right?!  Donovan needs to go to fwd.  I'd be ok with Feilhaber and Bradley in MF.  I am not impressed at all at Dempsey's work rate either!  He seems to come alive at  the end of games.  Well we need that energy at the beginning, it looks like to me.  he's a little to relaxed when coming into the center which is where he has coughed it up for several counter attacks himself.  Man, we have a long way to go!  I hope Bob and co. can figure something out soon. 

[dme1111]

I'm not sure this group has what it takes to win.  They look so overmatched by Brazil and Italy.  They are just ugly to watch.  They have such little skill compared to the other teams.  I agree, give the unknowns a chance.  This can't be the best America has to offer

I guess I was wrong, they can play with and beat the best in the world.  I wonder what happened to turn it around