The Americans have one hand on the 2011 Presidents Cup after Tiger Woods contributed to a six point haul at a sodden Royal Melbourne.
The titleholders took six of the ten points on offer to move to 13 overall as Woods registered his first point of the event, and they are now within spitting distance of the 17-and-a-half point threshold they need to retain the cup.
Sitting on nine points, the Internationals face an enormous task to win nine of Sunday's 12 singles matches - which will go to extra holes if they're all-square at 18 - to claim the Cup for the first time since they broke through at this same venue in 1998.
History is against them, as no team in the previous eight Presidents Cups has come from behind on the last day to win, though the cup will be shared if the teams finish on 17 points apiece.
The Americans made their move in the morning's foursomes where they picked up four points to the Internationals' one.
The Internationals fought back with three points to the Americans' two from the afternoon's four-ball matches, but it is not likely to be enough.
Internationals captain Greg Norman is nevertheless refusing to concede defeat.
"The guys really do feel good," said Norman.
"Even after this morning before they went out this afternoon the guys felt absolutely fantastic, they felt good about the pairings and they knew they liked the golf course."
"Some of them felt they paid Royal Melbourne a little bit too much respect this morning ... but they stepped up to the plate in the afternoon."
Rain swept across the layout from the west at regular intervals this morning and the Americans, in particular, appreciated the softer going.
Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson, Hunter Mahan and David Toms, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk all delivered the goods for the Americans along with Woods, who had been pointless in the event to this stage, and Dustin Johnson.
Simpson and Watson maintained their perfect record in this year's Presidents Cup with a 3 and 2 victory over Allenby and Geoff Ogilvy.
The competition debutants have provided the Americans with three precious points and found a niche for themselves as lead-off specialists.
"Both of us like to get going early. We don't like to wait around," said Simpson.
"It's nice to try to put the first point on for our team."
Watson credited the pair's shared faith for their success.
"Me and him being good friends and being Christians and believing in what we believe, we're just having good fun out here," said Watson.
"We know it's a blessing to be here."
One down at the fourth, Toms and Mahan recovered strongly to beat South African pair Retief Goosen and Charl Schwartzel 5 and 4.
The momentum in the match swung when Toms holed his approach from 50 metres for eagle at the short par four sixth.
Woods and Johnson prevailed 3 and 2 over Adam Scott and K J Choi, while Mickelson and Furyk went birdie-eagle-birdie from the 11th to 13th to go from one down to one up against Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day.
The veteran Americans cruised over the line 2 and 1.
In the afternoon, the Internationals were boosted by a surprise point for K T Kim and Y E Yang against Woods and Johnson in the four-ball.
Kim, who hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation, and his compatriot edged ahead at the first and, after twice being pegged back, regained the lead at the 15th and maintained that fragile one-hole buffer through to the finish.
"That's a match that everybody took as a US win, but the boys took it to heart and I love seeing it, I love seeing the challenge," said a proud Norman of the South Koreans.
Schwartzel and Goosen rebounded strongly to beat the previously undefeated Simpson and Watson 2 and 1.
Ogilvy and Choi provided the Internationals' third and final point for the afternoon with a one-up win over Steve Stricker and Matt Kuchar.
For the US, Mahan and Bill Haas beat Baddeley and Day 2 and 1, while Jim Furyk - who's won four-from-four this week - and Nick Watney held on to beat Scott and Ernie Els one-up.
Mahan has not been given the anchor role again. He goes out fifth in the singles and finds himself up against Day once more.
Woods is left until 11th and will play Baddeley, one of Norman's wild cards who has also won only one of his four games so far.
Furyk will try to make it five wins out of five against Els and Mickelson four out of four against Scott.
Unlike The Ryder Cup, a tie is not good enough for America to retain the trophy. If the match finishes 17-17 it will be shared.
Yang, put out last by Norman, might have been hoping he would face Woods again rather than Stricker, having also beaten him to become Asia's first male Major Champion at the 2009 US PGA Championship.
"Having it over Tiger is an added perk, definitely," he said.
"It's nothing personal, but hopefully it's a continuing streak."
Kim said: "When I heard I was being paired with Tiger (in the fourballs) I was a bit nervous, especially because I have not been playing well the last two days.
"I felt a lot of pressure, but we trusted each other and that's probably the main reason why we won."
Norman said: "Nobody gave them a chance, but they really took it up to them."
Scott said: "It's going to have to be a remarkable day, but we have a shot at it. That's all we ask for - it's not over."
