There were other encouraging performances for the Americans at the Confederations Cup. Tim Howard was mostly sharp in goal. After a slow start, Clint Dempsey scored in three consecutive matches. Jonathan Spector proved threatening with his crosses from the right flank. Oguchi Onyewu was sturdy in central defense and so, generally, was Jay DeMerit, given a chance to play regularly.

But it was Donovan who was the most reliable. He assumed the captaincy when Bocanegra was out with a hamstring injury and seemed serious, determined from the beginning.

"I'm becoming the player I want to become," Donovan said. "I'm proud of where I'm at right now. I've done a lot of internal work, a lot of physical work. I've spent a lot of time on it and it's good to see it pay off."

Of course, much work remains for Donovan and the United States to advance to the top tier of world soccer, where little things make a big difference: the ability to hold the ball, keep it moving quicker than the opponent can move it, make the right pass, react quickly to turnovers. In other words, learning how to play the hard games against hard teams.

"We've got the potential to be at that level," Donovan said.

"The difference is, Brazil has been there before. A lot of their players have been in games like this and they knew how to finish it and how to win. We still have to learn that. We have a lot of guys on our team who haven't played a lot of national team games, haven't played a lot of high-level club games, that were starting. You can tell there's a difference there."

The United States is long past moral victories, Donovan said. It can be proud of what it accomplished here, but also disappointed in allowing a victory over Brazil to slip away.

"Look, it's Brazil," Donovan said. "You have to expect they're going to get chances. They're going to keep coming. What are you going to do? They have players that are probably worth three times as much as our whole team. There's a reason for that."

Still, the Americans are an assured team now as they head into the final stretch of World Cup qualifying. With Donovan at his best, perhaps the United States will even defeat Mexico for the first time at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on Aug. 12.

"He took it very seriously," forward Jozy Altidore said of Donovan and the Confederations Cup. "He looked like a great player. That's what we need from him in the future."