JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) – Spain set a record of 15 successive international victories but Brazil sounded the more resounding note among those at the Confederations Cup most likely to challenge for World Cup honours next year.

The European champions, soccer’s top-ranked team, cruised through a modest opening round group at the eight-team tournament, scoring eight goals and keeping three clean sheets.

They also equalled a long-standing record of 35 games without defeat.

Brazil, who thrashed world champions Italy 3-0 on Sunday, looked more menacing however.

The inglorious exit of the Italians may have been down to end-of-season fatigue but it was still a morale blow for Marcello Lippi’s men, hoping to use the tournament as an ideal warm-up for their title defence in South Africa next year.

Italy were blitzed by a three-goal burst from Brazil just before halftime of their final group match in Pretoria but the seeds of their demise were sown when they suffered a surprise defeat to Egypt.

“I know our performance was disappointing and we have to go home, but it was not the real Italy tonight,” Lippi said after Sunday’s defeat.

Brazil arrived at the Confederations Cup with a tired-looking side after two tough World Cup qualifiers inside a week.

They needed a controversial penalty to claim victory in a seven-goal thriller against Egypt but, once rested, then turned on the samba style to ease through their next two matches with successive 3-0 scorelines.

“We are full of self-confidence,” said striker Luis Fabiano.

Spain intend to use the event not only as preparation for next year’s World Cup but also to confirm they merited their European Championship success.

“If we can win the Confederations Cup on top of the European Championship, we can arrive at the World Cup with a lot of confidence,” said striker Fernando Torres.

“Our target now is to keep winning games. We have ambitions of achieving much more.”

Spain play the United States in the semifinal in Bloemfontein tomorrow after the Americans achieved the near-impossible of recovering to second place from last in their group.

Egypt, after spectacular performances against Brazil and Italy, crashed 3-0 to the U.S. team on Sunday.

Brazil’s semifinal on Thursday is against the host nation, whose unconvincing form of recent years continued at the tournament.

South Africa’s presence in the last four has nonetheless significantly boosted the local populace’s excitement ahead of the World Cup.

“We are preparing for the World Cup, so this is a good challenge for us. We have to take every opportunity that comes our way,” midfielder Steven Pienaar told Reuters.