U.S. hits daily double, advances to semifinals

~ The U.S. defeated Egypt by three goals, while Italy lost by three to Brazil.

RUSTENBURG, South Africa -- Outplayed by Italy and Brazil, the U.S. soccer team once again was on the verge of first-round elimination from a big international tournament.

To reach the semifinals of the Confederations Cup, the Americans needed to beat Egypt by at least three goals while the world champion Italians lost to Brazil by at least three.

Astronomical odds, right?

Well, advance they did.

Charlie Davies scored in the 21st minute and Michael Bradley -- the son of U.S. coach Bob Bradley -- connected in the 63rd to get a Father's Day goal for the second straight year. Clint Dempsey then broke a nine-month international scoreless streak in the 71st, giving the United States an improbable 3-0 victory Sunday night.

And in a game played simultaneously, Brazil scored three times in the first half to defeat Italy 3-0.

Now it's on to a semifinal matchup Wednesday with European champion Spain, unbeaten in 35 matches since November 2006. The Spaniards are the world's top-ranked team.

"All of the critics in America who said we were no good after losing to Italy and Brazil, let's see what they say now," Michael Bradley said.

Since advancing to the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals, the U.S. team had been knocked out of the first round of the 2003 Confederations Cup, the 2006 World Cup and the 2007 Copa America.

"The first thing that was required was belief," Landon Donovan said. "I can't imagine many times that something like this has happened. When you think about it, to have advanced out of a group with Brazil, Italy and the African champions is phenomenal."

Getting past Spain may be an even tougher task. The U.S. lost to Spain 1-0 in an exhibition at Santander on June 4 last year.

"We know the way they can move the ball and keep possession," Bob Bradley said. "We played a good first half, but they wore us down in the second half and it didn't feel too good."

Defending tournament champion Brazil (3-0) won Group B with nine points and plays Thursday against host South Africa. While the U.S., Italy and Egypt all finished at 1-2, the Americans scored four goals and allowed six. Italy also had a minus-2 goal difference but scored only three goals and Egypt was minus-3.

Outshot a combined 45-19 in the first two matches against teams ranked fourth and fifth, the 14th-ranked U.S. outshot the No. 40 Egyptians 16-13.