Just call Daniel Alves the spoiler.

Alves scored the only goal on a free kick with just two minutes left at the Confederations Cup on Thursday, sending Brazil into the final against the surprising United States and ending host South Africa's upset bid.

The Americans stunned Spain 2-0 Wednesday in the other semifinal, handing the top-ranked team its first loss since November 2006.

Sunday's final at Ellis Park will be a rematch of last week's game in group play, when the five-time World Cup champions crushed the Americans. Brazil is 13-1 in head-to-head meetings with the United States, and has outscored the United States 26-8.

The lone American victory was a 1-0 upset at the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean.

"Brazil, we know well because they beat us pretty badly a week ago," Landon Donovan said after the U.S. beat Spain. "They would probably be comfortable playing against us, but I think we're in a better place now."

Brazil was a heavy favorite against South Africa. Spurred on by the deafening buzz of their delighted fans' vuvuzelas, though, Bafana Bafana unsettled Brazil with a frantic, hustling game of quick challenges and tight defense.

As the game wore on and the raucous home crowd sensed another upset in the making, the whistles and cheers grew even louder.

Brazil, normally so smooth and fluid, looked short of ideas and labored in its efforts to find an opening. Just four days after routing reigning World Cup champion Italy 3-0, the ball inexplicably seemed to get stuck under the players' feet.

With central defender Matthew Booth snuffing out almost every attempted attack from the wayward Luis Fabiano and ineffective Robinho, Brazil's best chances had been shots from Ramires, Andre Santos and Kaka that goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune easily saved. Only Kaka seemed able to direct his passes with any regular accuracy as Bafana Bafana matched their illustrious opponents in skill and surpassed them in effort.

"We knew Brazil would have a lot of possession and we had to get players behind the ball," Booth said. "But we had a go at them."

After Ramires was tripped up by South Africa captain Aaron Mokoena, sending him tumbling to the ground, Alves bailed out Brazil.

On the field only six minutes, he stepped up and curled a shot into the far top corner, prompting celebrations by the Brazilians and almost silencing the raucous home crowd.

"The game was very close so I put on a very quick player, a very aggressive player, who is strong on set pieces," Brazil coach Dunga said. "It was one of the few opportunities we were going to have. The foul was right in front of the goal area, so it was perfect for us."

Despite the loss, the South Africans can take pride in this effort. Bafana Bafana outplayed Brazil, matched their opponents' 12 shots on goal and showed their fans they can be something of a force when they host next year's World Cup.

South Africa displayed far more purpose and skill than in its first-round group, where it progressed with a 0-0 draw with Iraq and 2-0 win over lowly New Zealand.

Teko Modise put three disappointing games behind him and came close to securing a famous win when his 58th-minute shot deflected off defender Luisao and almost beat goalkeeper Julio Cesar.

"Maybe with a year's preparation, we can win a game like this against Brazil," South Africa coach Joel Santana said. "You cannot make these mistakes."

The United States stunned top-ranked Spain 2-0 Wednesday night on goals by Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey, advancing to the Confederations Cup final with one of the Americans' biggest soccer victories.

Altidore scored in the 27th minute and Dempsey added a goal in the 74th as the Americans became the first team to defeat Spain since Romania in November 2006.

The chances of such a U.S. victory seemed slim just a few days ago. The 14th-ranked Americans lost their first two games in the Confederations Cup, an eight-nation World Cup warmup, and were on the verge of elimination.

"I can't explain it any more than you can," U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard said. "Sports is funny sometimes, but when you put your mind to something, you can achieve it."

Now they will play defending champion Brazil or host South Africa on Sunday in their first-ever men's final at a FIFA competition.

"It's exciting, a great team effort. To beat an amazing team like Spain and make the final, it's big," U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. "We played as hard as we could and that's what it took. Every guy contributed, so it's a very good feeling."

The U.S. has three full days to prepare for the final. It was thoroughly outplayed by Brazil in a 3-0 first-round meeting.

"We take a few hours to regroup, but we'll be ready," Bradley said. "We're so excited about this."

Spain, the European champion, had set an international record with 15 straight victories and had tied Brazil's record unbeaten streak of 35 games from December 1993 to January 1996.

"We're not used to losing," Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque said. "We lacked a little of our usual touch. We played a very difficult rival who took us head on."

Spain outshot the U.S. 29-9 but Howard came up with several big saves.

"We knew we had to pick and choose our moments to go forward," Dempsey said. "We're happy with the result and we know we're going to have our work cut out to get anything out of the final."

Altidore got the first goal when he outmuscled Joan Capdevila, his teammate on Spain's Villarreal, to beat goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Dempsey scored when he pounced on Landon Donovan's cross, which had bounced off Gerard Pique and the foot of Sergio Ramos.

Midfielder Michael Bradley, son of the coach, will miss the final. He received a red card for a late sliding tackle in the 87th minute, the third U.S. ejection of the tournament.

The United States had been 1-7-1 against top-ranked teams, beating Brazil in the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup and tying Argentina last summer in an exhibition at Giants Stadium. When the U.S. upset Brazil, goalkeeper Kasey Keller had an outstanding game, just as Howard did.

For the Americans, a longtime soccer outsider, this ranked alongside the upset of Brazil as one of their top wins, below victories over England in the 1950 World Cup, Portugal and Mexico in the 2002 World Cup and Colombia in the 1994 World Cup.

The Americans were boosted by the return of captain Carlos Bocanegra, who had been sidelined since injuring a hamstring during a World Cup qualifier on June 6. He played left back instead of central defense.

The United States had lost its three previous matches against Spain, including a 1-0 in an exhibition on June 4 last year at Santander.

Altidore scored after Dempsey lifted the ball over Pique as Xabi Alonso tried to come in. The ball deflected to the 19-year-old forward, who shot from 18 yards as Carles Puyol attempted to close in vain. The shot went off Casillas' right arm and into the net.

Altidore was so excited he took off his jersey as he ran toward the stands in celebration, drawing a yellow card.

It was the first goal against Spain in 451 minutes, since Turkey's Semih Senturk scored on April 1, and just the third goal the Spaniards allowed in 17 games dating to last summer's European Championship.

Scoring against Spain had special meaning for Altidore, acquired by Villarreal of Spain's La Liga from Major League Soccer and the New York Red Bulls for $10 million last summer. He made only two starts and four substitute appearances during the first half of the season for Villarreal, scoring one goal. Loaned to second division leader Xerez on Jan. 30, he didn't get into a single match.

On Sunday, Altidore had sent a warning to Capdevila.

"He sent me a message and told me that we had to be careful," Capdevila said. "But his Spanish is not so great, so I think he made a mistake."

ristiano Ronaldo's future at Manchester United became uncertain again when he wouldn't say whether he will remain with the English champions next season.

When asked after United's 2-0 loss to Barcelona in the Champions League final whether he would be at Old Trafford next season, the reigning world player of the year said: "I don't know."

Real Madrid has been trying to obtain the 24-year-old Portuguese winger for nearly two seasons and former president Florentino Perez is on the verge of heading the club again.

A lifelong Madrid fan, has three seasons remaining on his current contract and has said he'd like to play for Real Madrid at some point. United manager Alex Ferguson has labeled Real Madrid "a mob" for repeatedly trying to get Ronaldo to make a move.

Perez, responsible for bringing Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham to Real Madrid during his six year tenure, has said he is ready to spend three years' worth of money on players this summer alone.

Ronaldo nearly scored in the second minute of Wednesday night's loss and while he had six shots, he became less of a factor in the second half.

"Everything went wrong," Ronaldo said. "We didn't control the game and we lost. I think Barcelona played better than us and they deserved to win."

Man United didn't respond to the challenge.

"Everyone expects Manchester to do something in the game and it didn't happen," Ronaldo said.

He was outplayed by Lionel Messi, who could succeed him as player of the year.

"The game was between Manchester and Barcelona. It wasn't a duel between anyone in particular," Ronaldo said. "I'm sure I'm going to play more finals."

Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka will withdraw from a two qualifying matches against Lithuania due to a toe injury. The move will greatly affect the French squad, whom are trying to solidify their position in the next World Cup.

France currently trails Serbia and Lithuania by five points. Their next few games will be crucial if they want to qualify for next year’s finals in South Africa.  

Anelka bruised his toe during their loss last Saturday against Tottenham. The match left Chelsea in third place, four points behind Manchester United and three points behind Liverpool.

Reports confirm that Anelka could be out for up to three weeks, which means he will be unable to play against Newcastle on April 4. He can also miss Chelsea’s game against Liverpool.

He is expected to return at Stamford Bridge on April 14 where Chelsea battles Arsenal in the FA Cup semis.