JOHANNESBURG - Brazil's "Beautiful Game" came alive in the second half yesterday with three comeback goals in a 3-2 win over the United States in the Confederations Cup final.

Luis Fabiano scored two of the goals and Lucio added the third in the 84th minute to give Brazil its second straight Confederations Cup title and third overall.

But it was looking good for the Americans, playing in the men's final of a FIFA tournament for the first time, in the first half when Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan gave the team a 2-0 halftime lead.

"You realize why these guys are worth so much at times like this, but it's still disappointing," Donovan said. "We are in the position where we don't want respect, we want to win."

Brazil looked like a beaten team in the first 45 minutes, creating little and being constantly stymied by the U.S. defense and goalkeeper Tim Howard. The American attack was stretching the nervous-looking Brazil defense, with Donovan working hard to give his team several scoring chances.

"At halftime, we said there was something lacking, some lack of positioning," Brazil coach Dunga said through a translator. "We corrected that and we pressured our opponent in the second half."

Luis Fabiano started the comeback in the 46th minute, collecting a pass from Ramires before turning and shooting past defender Jay DeMerit for his fourth goal of the tournament. He added a tournament-leading fifth to equalize in the 74th, heading in a rebound after Kaka's cross was kicked against the crossbar by Robinho.

"We gave up the first goal so early in second half," U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. "We really put ourselves in a tough spot."

Lucio then delivered the decisive goal in the 84th, heading a corner from Elano past Howard.

Dempsey, who also scored in the 2-0 semifinal win over Spain and in the 3-0, first-round victory over Egypt, gave the Americans the lead in the 10th minute by redirecting a cross from Jonathan Spector. Donovan added the second by finishing off a nice passing play with Charlie Davies on a fast counterattack in the 27th.

The Americans appeared to get some luck in the 60th when Kaka headed a cross from Andre Santos to the near post. Howard stepped back into his goal and knocked the shot off the underside of the crossbar and then grabbed it safely in his arms.

Kaka appealed, arguing that the ball had crossed the line before Howard was able to get to it, and television replays appeared to show he was correct.

Brazil has won eight matches in a row, and is unbeaten in 16.

"I think people around the world see that we have a good team, we have good players," Bradley said. "Hopefully we can continue to step forward."

In the third-place match, Spain fought back to beat host South Africa, 3-2, after extra time in Rustenburg. *