Goals in either half from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey earned underdogs USA a 2-0 win over the Spanish in Bloemfontein and they will now meet the winners of tomorrow's other semi-final between Brazil and South Africa in Sunday's final.

Few gave the US much of a chance against a Spain side that had won a world-record 15 successive matches heading into the match and who, if they avoided defeat, would claim another record by stretching their unbeaten run to 36 games.

However, Bradley insisted before the game his side were not there just to make the numbers up, and he was proved correct as the US created a huge upset.

"Spain are a super team and it's a great feeling to have beaten them. We always felt we had a chance in this game," said Bradley, whose side had to play out the final few minutes with 10 men after his son Michael was shown a straight red card.

"It's a big night and the players all worked hard to get here. We want to reach higher all the time and accomplish new things.

"When you play a team like Spain you have to work very hard and defend as a group. We made a special effort to try to control their midfield and not let them get comfortable."

The USA's passage through to the final is even more remarkable considering they looked out of the tournament after losing their opening two Group B matches against Brazil and Italy, conceding six goals in the process.

However, Sunday`s 3-0 win over Egypt, combined with some favourable results in the other group games, left Bradley's side in second place in the pool, pipping Italy to a place in the last four thanks to having scored one more goal than the world champions.

The US might now come up against the Brazilians again in the final, but forward Landon Donovan insists they now feel they can overturn anyone after downing European champions Spain.

"We just beat the best team in the world, so we're going to be very fired up no matter who we meet in the final," he said on www.fifa.com.

"It's great to reach a FIFA final game for the first time, but we've played a lot of finals in our region (CONCACAF). We won't feel any new pressure in this final here. We'll be ready to go."

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque praised the US for their "tremendous team effort", but felt his side had given their all as well.

"The US put in a tremendous team effort and were all over the field. We were surprised by how well they played and we have to take our hats off to them," said Del Bosque, who had won all 13 of his matches since replacing Luis Aragones after Euro 2008 last summer.

"They played with a lot of energy, they are a very fast team. More than any individual you have to emphasise their work as a team.

"We played at 100%. We've done everything to win, we dominated and the only thing we've lacked is finishing off our chances.

"We are not used to losing and defeats are always tough. But this is sport."

Spain will now face the losers of tomorrow's semi-final in the third-place play-off on Sunday, and Del Bosque wants his players to look forward and not dwell on tonight's defeat.

"I've never liked to say that we are the best team in the world, although the FIFA statistics say it. This is a small step back, but we need to look to the future with optimism," he added in Marca.