Arena believes the United States need live off the memory of 1950 in Brazil no longer. ‘‘In the modern era, this is even bigger than that game against England,’’ he said.

If 1950 was a fluke - and there are many people who insist it was not - this game was anything but, as Portugal melted in the sultry heat of Suwon.

John O’Brien, Landon Donovan and Brian McBride were the all-American heroes, and the victory should at least get some coverage in a country which is currently in obsessive mode about the NBA basketball play-offs.

Arena added: ‘‘Now we can start looking forward. I am very proud of my team, it was an outstanding performance. We knew we could beat big teams - we have beaten Germany and Argentina recently - but this is the first time we have beaten anyone of that stature in a big competition.

We have a lot of experience now in the squad, we had a lot of confidence going into the game and we played to win, not just to participate.’’

USA’s Blackburn keeper Brad Friedel believes their opponents were surprised by the energy with which his side started the game.

He said: ‘‘I think Portugal came out thinking this was going to be a nice easy match and that we would sit off them, but we decided to take the game to them.’’

That they did in style. After only three minutes, Earnie Stewart whipped in a corner, McBride thumped in an excellent header and when keeper Vitor Baia could only parry his effort, Ajax midfielder O’Brien slammed in the loose ball.

Even that did not wake up Portugal, who committed a series of errors before being punished again. Stewart intercepted a terrible pass, Donovan picked up the pieces and his cross deflected off Jorge Costa’s back and past the wrong-footed Baia.

Ten minutes before the break it was 3-0. Anthony Sanneh surged down the left flank and produced a cross from the by-line that could not have been bettered. It curved away from Baia and McBride’s diving header was simply awesome.

Friedel added: ‘‘We didn’t expect to be three goals up but these things happen in football. As it was we were disappointed to concede a goal before half-time, then we scored an own goal and suddenly they are back."

The fightback was started by Beto, who fired past Friedel after a rebound from a Figo corner, then early in the second half Jeff Agoos sliced a volley into his own net.

Thoughts of Portugal’s Eusebio-inspired comeback against North Korea in 1966, from 3-0 down to 5-3 up, rose, but the USA submerged them again with determined defending. South Korea are the USA’s next opponents and if either side wins they should be through.

Friedel believes the new team spirit has made the difference from France 98, when an unhappy camp ended defeated in all three games.

He said: ‘‘The American team we had in France 98 would not have beaten Portugal, simple as that. There are a lot of the same players now but we were just not a team then.

‘‘We are very happy but we’re not getting carried away - three points does not get you out of the group. Korea bossed their game against Poland and it’s going to be very tough against them.’’

Figo’s own disappointing performance mirrored that of his team-mates. Coach Antonio Oliveira blamed the lack of time he was allowed to prepare his squad but Figo was honest enough to point the finger in the right direction.

The Real Madrid midfielder said: ‘‘We have to recognise we made some mistakes and without taking any credit away from the USA you just cannot allow that. Those mistakes just cannot happen in top competitions.

‘‘When you go 3-0 down it’s very difficult to recover, and although we had chances in the second half to get a draw we just couldn’t get the goal.

‘‘It was not because of the physical condition of the squad that we lost but because of the mistakes. If we weren’t in good physical condition we would not have been able to do everything that we did to win or at least draw the game.’’

Figo came into the World Cup nursing a sore ankle, but some good news for Portugal ahead of their next game, against Poland, is that their star player did not suffer any reaction.

He said: ‘‘Physically I’m perfect, there’s no pain and I am happy with that, I’m just unhappy with the result.’’