Goals from Fulham's Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan had put the USA, who had stunned Spain in the semi-finals, 2-0 up inside half an hour at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

But the South Americans stormed back with a superb second-half display.

Luis Fabiano fired in within a minute of the restart and after that the Brazilians piled forward.

on hand

Brazil thought they had equalised when Kaka's header appeared to have crossed the line, but the officials ruled Everton keeper Tim Howard had pushd it away just in time.

However, the equaliser did soon arrive. On 74 minutes, Kaka's cross was turned against the bar by Robinho but Luis Fabiano was on hand to nod in the rebound.

And the winner came with six minutes remaining, captain Lucio heading in a corner taken by Manchester City's Elano, on as a subsititute, from eight yards out.

Brazil will now hope to return to South Africa in 12 months' time to add the World Cup trophy to their collection.