كتب : Hatem Maher
Italy were also outclassed by Brazil 3-0 to allow the US, whose chances of booking a last-four berth were very slim, to go through.
Egypt, Italy and the US all finished with three points but the latter qualified for the next round after scoring more goals than Italy.
The US and Italy had minus-two goal difference each while Egypt had minus-three.
The US scored four goals in the group stage, just one more than World Cup winners Italy to set up a semi-final meeting with Spain.
Brazil qualified as the group leaders after bagging maximum nine points from three games.
Three goals from Charlie Davies, Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey condemned Egypt, who shook world football when they defeated Italy 1-0, to an embarrassing defeat.
Several Changes
Egypt coach Hassan Shehata made several changes to the side that faced Brazil and Italy.
He preferred to play with four men at the back rather than the usual three as Hani Saied, who used to play as a sweeper, was deployed as a central defender to partner Wael Gomaa.
Ahmed Samir Farag started on the left instead of the unfit Sayed Moawad while Ahmed Al-Muhammadi, who returned from suspension, played as a right-back.
Ahmed Abdul-Ghani played as a lone striker after Mohamed Zidan was ruled out of the game due to a hamstring injury.
Egypt had an early chance to grab the opener when Ahmed Eid flicked a long ball towards the unmarked Abdul-Ghani but the latter's left-footed shot went wide of the post.
The US gained the upper hand afterwards, thanks to some sloppy marking from Egypt's defensive duo Saied and Gomaa.
Landon Donovan outpaced Saied far too easily after 16 minutes but he opted to play the ball across the box rather than shooting goalwards. None of his teammates connected with the ball.
The US took a deserved lead six minutes later.
Jozy Altidore turned his marker Gomaa on the left before sending in a low cross that diving keeper Essam Al-Hadari failed to clear.
The unmarked Davies gathered the ball and his shot took a deflection off Al-Hadari to find the net.
Egypt piled on pressure shortly before the break but barely created clear-cut chances.
They came close to leveling the score when a powerful shot from Hosni Abd-Rabou grazed the bar.
Misery Widened
Shehata had to take off Ahmed Fathi and Abdul-Ghani shortly after the restart as both players were injured. They were replaced with Ahmed Saied 'Ouka' and Mohamed Mohsen Abou-Greisha.
The US continued to outplay the Egyptians, who looked out of sorts to further fall behind.
Saied cleared an Altidore goal-bound shot off the line using his arm but the US still managed to widen Egypt's misery.
Bradley doubled their advantage on 63 minutes when he was found unmarked by Donovan's cut back to slide the ball into the far corner.
Eight minutes later, Dempsey notched the decisive strike with a downward header after connecting with Ricardo Clark's pinpoint cross.