Soccer’s Best Play to Form : U.S. Cup: Stylish Brazil opens 3-0 lead, but durable Germany rallies for tie.

In the 3-3 tie between Brazil and Germany Thursday at RFK Stadium in the U.S. Cup, the soccer teams lived up to their reputations. Unfortunately for the Brazilians, they also lived down to one.

Showing off their rhythmic style, the Brazilians mystified the Germans and dazzled the crowd of 34,737 while dashing to a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead in the first half.

Then, as they have often been known to do when they are in command, they lost interest. Perhaps the exercise was too easy for them.

Meanwhile, the Germans were as irrepressible as ever, refusing to surrender, attacking more aggressively after falling behind and, finally, claiming their reward by tying the score in the final minute of extra time on a header from in front of the goal by forward Juergen Klinsmann.

In the end, neither team was particularly disappointed, the Brazilians because they looked so stylish during the first half, the Germans because they looked so durable.

And no one could claim that a tie was not appropriate because Brazil and Germany may be the world’s two best teams. They certainly are the two best in the U.S. Cup.

Brazil leads the tournament with a victory and a tie for three points, with one game remaining here Sunday against England. Germany will play its second game Sunday at Chicago against the United States before concluding on June 19 at Pontiac, Mich., against England.

Through the first half Thursday, the Brazilians were not the only players in the tournament who had reason to feel good about themselves. The Americans were embarrassed after last Sunday’s game against Brazil, believing that their ineptitude and inexperience contributed as much to the 2-0 defeat as their opponents’ skills.

But the Brazilians proved during the first 45 minutes that they can embarrass anyone, even the defending world champion Germans. If anything, the Brazilians toyed with the Germans even more than they did the Americans.

At one point, their brilliant forward, Careca, bounced the ball on his knee six times, ignoring the defender who was attempting to harass him.

Careca also scored once, on a penalty kick, and had an assist on a goal by Luisinho. Brazil’s other goal was deflected into the net by German defender Thomas Helmer.

“I thought we played a beautiful game in the first half,” said Brazil’s coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira.

As for the second half, he said the Brazilians collapsed because of the 93-degree temperature and 41% humidity.

The Germans were oblivious to the conditions, constantly moving forward to apply pressure on Brazil’s goalkeeper, Taffarel. After Klinsmann scored their first goal with 24 minutes to play, they got another 14 minutes later by Andreas Moeller.

Klinsmann scored his equalizer in extra time when Taffarel chose not to leave his position in front of the net to challenge one of the world’s most adept scorers for the ball.

When Klinsmann got it, he simply headed it over Taffarel.