JOHANNESBURG -- Three quick thoughts after Brazil's come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the U.S. in the Confederations Cup final:

• What a game, what a gut punch. The U.S. could taste its first title in a major international men's soccer tournament, building a shocking 2-0 lead at halftime on highlight-reel goals by Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan. But the tone for the second half was set just 41 seconds in when Luís Fabiano started a remarkable three-goal Brazilian comeback. The Americans had an amazing performance, but this has to be the worst kind of pain: when you feel like you had the trophy, only to see it ripped from your hands by a deserving Brazilian rally. Now it's up to the U.S. to build on this Confederations Cup in the next 12 months before the Big One, the World Cup.

• Welcome to soccer, American mainstreamers. Yes, yes, yes, winning this game would have been an even bigger milestone in the development of U.S. soccer as a mainstream sport, but the millions of Yanks who watched this final had to come away with a sense of why the world has such a passion for this sport at the highest levels. What's more, U.S. viewers saw an American team that beat world No. 1 Spain and was fearless against the mighty Brazilians, only for Brazil to show its class in the second half. (Existential angst is also part of the game, as all the newbies no doubt learned in the second half.) In the future, this game may mark the day that the U.S. issued a shot across the bow of international soccer and won millions of new fans at home. Soccer is often a game of killer near-misses. This was one of them.

• Could the U.S. have done more to hold on? Probably. The goal the Americans will regret most has to be the goal by Luís Fabiano 41 seconds into the second half -- a goal that put the U.S. on its heels for the rest of the game. If the U.S. had held the Brazilians for just 15 or 20 minutes to start the second half, the frustration would have set in for the five-time World Cup champions. Instead, the U.S.' confidence appeared to drop, and the attacking chances that were available in the first half dwindled to a trickle. Let's be honest: For a moment or two, it was hard not to imagine the triumphant U.S. players carrying the winner's trophy around the stadium to celebrate the biggest week in the history of U.S. Soccer. Now they'll have to use its absence to motivate them for what could be a very bright future.

What were your thoughts on the game? Please post them below, and check back for more coverage later. I'm headed to the press conference.

Grant Wahl's new book, The Beckham Experiment, comes out on July 14. You can pre-order it here. You can also find him on Twitter.