Bob Bradley was as frustrated as his players that his United States team let a two-goal lead slide to a 3-2 loss to Brazil in the Confederation Cup final.

Yet, he said the experience of the 14-day competition was another sign of the remarkable progress his team is making since the disappointment of the 2006 World Cup.

In their first men's final of a FIFA tournament, the Americans were leading the five-time World Cup winners 2-0 at half-time at Ellis Park yesterday only for the Brazilians to hit back for a victory which meant a record third Confederations Cup title too.

But Bradley, the Under-23 coach who was promoted to the top job after the team performed poorly in Germany three years ago under Bruce Arena, saw past the result, even though he shared the disappointment of his players.

Understanding and Progress

"Progress involves understanding how you play in harder games when they have to play against the best teams," he said. "Everything gets put under the magnifying glass a little bit more when you're playing the best teams. It's easy to talk about those things but it's important that the players see it for themselves and I think that's what's been happening.

"It's not that we learned it today but I think we get confidence that we are able to go up against big teams and create chances and make it harder for them in terms of when they have the ball. We were able to make it a real game with a top team. Over time to be able to sustain that longer, not have ups and downs throughout the game, that's a sign of progress."