A beautifully hit free kick goal by second half substitute Dani Alves helped Brazil defeat hosts South Africa 1-0 in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup yesterday. The Brazilians will now go on to face the high flying Americans in Sunday's tournament final.

For the USMNT, its fans, and the profile of soccer in the United States, it was the best possible outcome.

For me, there were two distinct ways to look at the Confederations Cup final as a USMNT fan. Either you hoped for South Africa to pull off a massive upset, setting up a USA-South Africa final, and while playing in Johnannesburg would make Bafana Bafana tougher than usual, the US would have a better chance to win, bringing them their first ever FIFA trophy. Or you hoped for a Brazil win, the expected result, because it would both give the US a chance at redemption against the Samba Boys, as well as test them with the strongest challenge possible. Beating Brazil in the final would only make the Confederations Cup triumph that much sweeter.

That was the goal before the tournament, right? To run the side through a gauntlet? The competition was talked up as a test of the squad as it is currently constituted, and as a chance for Bradley and his staff to gain a sense of their readiness ahead of next year's World Cup. Brazil, a team that ran roughshod over the Americans in the second game of the tournament, is simply a better measuring stick than the South Africans.

The win over Spain, win or lose against Brazil, will remain the USMNT's watershed moment for 2009 (even a victory at Azteca won't measure up); so for a team whose biggest achievement is behind them, what else is there? Beating Brazil and hoisting the Confederations Cup, of course.

If it was South Africa, no matter how difficult it might be to play them in front of a partisan crowd in Johannesburg, it just wouldn't live up to the standard of intensity the Americans have reached.

The Americans thumped the Egyptians when they had to and sneaked into the semi-finals. They rose up as one and played a near-perfect game against the top team in the world when no one thought they stood a chance. How fitting would it be to finish their streak by beating the team that made them look so bad in the group stage? How better to announce to the world "We here and we're good, so don't take us lightly"?

It had to be Brazil.