JOHANNESBURG — At halftime of Sunday's Confederations Cup final, when the United States was stunningly ahead of Brazil by 2-0, midfielder Landon Donovan allowed himself a moment to dream.

"It wasn't this moment of, 'Oh my God, we're beating Brazil,'" Donovan said. "It was, 'OK, we're playing well, let's keep going.'"

But almost as soon as forward Luis Fabiano scored a minute into the second half to spark Brazil's ravenous comeback, the United States had lost an opportunity to elevate its international stature.

"We were talking in the locker room that if Italy or Spain or Brazil or Argentina are up, 2-0, at halftime, they're not losing, period, maybe rarely," Donovan said. "We need to get smarter and we need to be able to finish out a game like that, regardless of who we're playing."

Despite Sunday's aching 3-2 defeat, the United States gained confidence here that it can challenge the world's best teams, and in the case of No. 1-ranked Spain, sometimes beat them.

Individually, Donovan demonstrated that he, too, belongs among the international elite.

"I think he had a fantastic tournament," Carlos Bocanegra, the American captain, said of Donovan. "He's taken a lot of criticism — ups and downs — but he showed he's a world-class player.

"He's so important to our team. I like how he got the ball and he would run at people. He was coming back on defense, kicking people, running down balls. He stepped up his game. When he plays well like that, he leads by example and other guys feed off that. He has so much to offer."

Donovan, 27, has always served as a kind of lightning rod for the national team. He is its best player and career leader in goals — 41 — and assists, but he has also left fans with a vague sense of potential unfulfilled, of not always playing his best when the moment demanded it.

That was not the case at the Confederations Cup, where he had two goals and two assists. During the brilliant counterattack in Sunday's final, Donovan passed to Charlie Davies, raced to the top of the penalty area, received the ball, spun the Brazilian midfielder Ramires and fired a left-footed shot to give the United States a 2-0 lead.

"Landon's been excellent," said Bob Bradley, the U.S. coach. "His commitment to every game, his work, his mobility, his pure competitiveness, are all things that I think came shining through in this tournament. That is an indication of how motivated he is. He realizes he still has a lot of great things ahead. For our national team, to see him in that kind of form, that kind of mentality, is something that sets a good standard for everybody else."