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 had to lose to Brazil by at least three.

Astronomical odds, right?

Well, advance they did.

Charlie Davies scored in the 21st minute, Michael Bradley — the son of U.S. coach Bob Bradley — connected in the 63rd and Clint Dempsey then broke a nine-month international scoreless streak in the 71st, giving the United States an improbable 3-0 victory last 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 a November 2006 exhibition loss to Romania. 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.

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.

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.

BRAZIL 3, ITALY 0

PRETORIA, South Africa — Brazil didn't just beat Italy once again, it eliminated the world champions from the Confederations Cup.

In a match between the nations with the most World Cup titles, Luis Fabiano scored in the 37th and 43rd minutes, and Andrea Dossena accidentally deflected a cross past goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon for an own goal in the 45th. Brazil's victory, combined with the United States' 3-0 victory over Egypt, dropped Italy into third place in Group B.

"Our team showed physically, technically and in all aspects that it was superior to a great team, a team which is the current world champion," Brazil coach Dunga said.