Johannesburg - Just over a week ago, US stand-in captain Landon Donovan said that all his side wanted from their final game in the Confederations Cup was to bow out with a good performance. That was, of course, before their match against Egypt.
At that stage, the US were sitting bottom of Group B without a point and with a goal-difference of minus five. They were three points and six goals behind the world champions Italy.
In one of the most stunning upsets in world football of recent times, the US went through to the semi-finals courtesy of their 3-0 victory against Egypt and Brazil's convincing 3-0 victory against Italy.
For their semi-final against Spain the US were given as much chance as they had been given to progress out of the group phase and again they proved everybody wrong by beating the number one ranked team in the world 2-0.
Come Sunday, Donovan and his team-mates will be lining-up at Johannesburg's Ellis Park stadium for the final of the seventh Confederations Cup.
Even the Brazilian players were surprised that they will be taking on the US, rather than the overwhelming favourites Spain.
"The final is a surprise. Everybody would like to see Brazil against Spain, but now the big surprise is that it is against the US," said superstar Kaka.
The two sides met already in the group stage, with Brazil comfortably winning 3-0, but captain Lucio has warned his team-mates that they should forget about that result.
"That was in the first round. We must forget it. This is a final now and in a final anything can happen. I would say the chances for both teams as 50-50."
Striker Luis Fabiano, who, together with Spaniards David Villa and Fernando Torres leads the scorer charts with three goals, said that playing against an outsider is never very easy.
"The match against the US will be very difficult. To play against a team that is not a favourite is complicated, because the players give their lives, they don't leave spaces."
Daniel Alves, who scored the stunning free-kick two minutes from time that gave Brazil their 1-0 victory against South Africa in the semi-final, said he did not expect the US to come at them.
"I think that they will be more cautious in the final. They suffered in the first match against us. We have to be well prepared and be patient to win the final."
One player who will be missing from the game is midfielder Michael Bradley. In the semi-final against Spain the son of coach Bob Bradley became the third US player to be sent off at this Confederations Cup tournament and will be forced to sit out the final.
US captain Carlos Bocanegra, who has recovered from injury and will lead his side against Brazil, said that they gave their opponents too much respect in the first game.
"I think we simply tried to sit back and absorb their pressure. That did not work and against Spain we tried to force our play on them. We will try to do that against the Brazilians."
Coach Bradley said that the US had confidence going into the game. "When we play as a team, we are very strong. We have never won a major tournament with the likes of Brazil and Italy competing and to do so would be a remarkable achievement."
Bradley's Brazilian counterpart Carlos Dunga also has one player not available for the final with injured defender Juan not having recovered sufficiently to return to the side.
History clearly favours Brazil.
Of 15 previous meetings between the two sides the Selecao has won all but one, with the lone American victory coming in the semi-final of the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-final in Los Angeles, with Predrag 'Preki' Radosavljevic scored the only goal of the match.
But as the Americans themselves have shown at this competition, football is not only about history and favourites. Sometimes, there are stunning upsets and unexpected results and Landon Donovan is hoping his side can produce another.
