The Confederations Cup is in full swing now in South Africa and after a fairly slow start the tournament has got into full swing. The group stages are now over and the two semi-finals feature USA Vs Spain and Brazil Vs South Africa. It is a bit of a weird tournament in all fairness, to qualify you have to win a FIFA Confederation Championship (such as the Copa America or European Championship) or the World Cup or be the host country of the next World Cup. It is a bit of a rehearsal for the nation who will host the World Cup and so far the South Africans are doing a decent job, which should set us up nicely for an excellent tournament in 2010.
The moment of the tournament so far has to be the USA’s victory over Egypt. The Americans needed to win and overturn a six goal deficit after losing their opening games to Brazil and Italy. Their 3-0 victory over Egypt coupled with Brazil’s 3-0 defeat of Italy meant the USA went through to the semi-final at the expense of the Italians. The deciding goal came courtesy of Clint Dempsey, of Premier League side Fulham, who rose to meet an inch-perfect cross from Jonathan Spector in the 71st minute with a powerful header.
Spain are the favourites to win with the Confederations Cup betting odds and they’re yet to concede a goal. They’ve also picked up the record for most consecutive international victories, their record-breaking and fifteenth consecutive win came against South Africa with the score 2-0 to the Spanish. Assuming they don’t lose their semi-final against the USA they will have also beaten Brazil’s record for the longest unbeaten run, Brazil and Spain are currently tied on 35.
South Africa managed to progress to the semi-final thanks to a victory over New Zealand and a goal less draw with Iraq. From what I’ve seen of the teams so far they’re the weakest left in the competition and I doubt many will be betting on them getting past Brazil. The Brazilians are starting to get into their stride now and they made Italy look distinctly average in their 3-0 victory.
With everything taken into consideration we should have a final contested by Brazil and Spain, unless there is a major upset, and that should be an exceptional tie. For me (and probably most people) these sides are the best teams in international football and it could be a pulsating encounter. The Brazilians have perhaps looked the better team so far and have played some decent flowing football. Spain on the other hand are so well organised and hard to break down and it will be tricky for Brazil to get through. I think Spain might just edge it personally, they may be missing the ever influential Andres Iniesta but they still have plenty of quality. Before all that can happen though, the Spanish will have to get past the USA on June 24 and Brazil will have to defeat host-nation South Africa on June 25.
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