Confederations Cup liveblogging: I'll be watching the finals of the Confederations Cup in a bit and posting excited exclamations whenever the U.S. scores against the hated and villainous Brazilians. (Early projection: 10-0 U.S.) Game starts at 2:25 EST.

2:13 Summary of ESPN pre-show: "U.S., you need to play good."

Spoiler alert and assorted observations behind the [+/-].

0:00 And we're off.

1:00 Congrats to the U.S. for keeping Brazil scoreless through the first minute of the game.

9:38 DEMPSEY SCORES! Dempsey again, God bless 'em. U.S. 1-0.

10:00 Announcers say that this is the first time Brazil has trailed in the entire tournament. I suspect their spirits may have been broken.

12:00 Nice save from Howard. U.S. putting the pressure on—they barely stopped Davies on a breakaway.

21:00 More informed match-tracking from the New York Times.

24:00 Another nice save from Howard. Things are getting physical.

26:00 U.S. defense generally looking good under pressure.

26:52 Donovan scores! Up 2-0!

34:10 Another miraculous save from Howard. He's doing great today.

45:00 + 1 Brazil having terrible luck with their shots so far today. U.S. very lucky. Game goes into the half with the US up by two.

45:45 Brazil scores 45 seconds into the second half. That's a bad sign.

58:00 U.S hurting, though still up by one. Lucky save just now.

60:00 EVEN MORE LUCKY SAVE FROM HOWARD. God. That really looked like it was in. (On replay it looks like it was kind of definitely in.)

63:30 Two good shots from the U.S., but no dice. U.S. fans on Twitter seem a little embarrassed about The Save. I make no apologies.

70:30 Howard again. Hero of the match.

73:31 Time to break Fabiano's leg. 2-2. Ugh.

84:00 Brazil gets its third goal off a header. Looking very bad. It's clear now that God is punishing Tim Howard for The Save.

89:30 U.S. just can't find the equalizer.

90:00 Three minutes stoppage time.

90:00 + 3 Amazing first half balanced by a terrible second half. At least we made Brazil work for it. See you in 2010.

Soccer: Click the [+/-] to catch the fever.

USA up 1-0 over Spain at halftime in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup.

UPDATE: Spain looking pretty tough in the opening minutes of the second half. Shoot; miss; get the ball back five seconds later; repeat.

Also, sorry for the lack of spoiler alert...

UPDATE: Dempsey! I love that man. I always pick him in my fantasy league and he never lets me down. Great goal.

UPDATE: USA! USA!

"This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor... This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!

Einstein, anti-nationalist, via Cogitamus.