BY JAMES ROSS – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
The FIFA Confederations Cup commenced this past weekend in Brazil, as the traditional warm up tournament a year previous to the World Cup itself.
Brazil began things Saturday by walking over Japan 3-0. It certainly didn’t start well for Japan, as the next global megastar, one Neymar da Silva Santos Junior, thrashed a volley into the corner three minutes into the match, and it kind of just went downhill for the Japanese from there. Brazil looked excellent, an orchestrated collection of artists painting rather freely on the canvas that Japan let them lay out. Paulinho and Jo added second half markers to give the Brazilians a 3-0 victory over the tenacious but badly outclassed Japanese.
One has to wonder how a back four possessing three creative types (David Luiz, Marcelo and Dani Alves, alongside captain Thiago Silva) will fare against better opposition, and that will be found out soon enough when Brazil play their other two group matches against Italy and Mexico. Having said that, watching Marcelo and Alves bomb up and down their respective flanks all tournament is going to be a pleasure to watch in conjunction with the resplendent creativity in the midfield and up front. The attacking quartet of Oscar, Neymar, Hulk and Fred, joined by the aforementioned forays of fullbacks Marcelo and Dani Alves, is mouth-watering with potential.
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Sunday, the other two members of Group A squared off, with Italy besting Mexico 2-1. The Italians looked the better side much of the match, with Mexico in curiously poor form these days, as evidenced by their indifferent performances in World Cup qualifying for CONCACAF. A wonderful free kick from the latest international cap centurion, Andrea Pirlo, got things rolling for the Azzuri. But a second half penalty conversion by Manchester United goal poacher Javier Hernandez leveled it, and it took a determined effort by the mercurial Mario Balotelli, with 12 minutes remaining, to give the Italians a 2-1 victory.
Also on Sunday, Spain overpowered Uruguay with a solid 2-1 victory. The score line was bit generous to Uruguay, as they looked second best to Spain much of the match. A late effort from a dead ball by fair play icon Luis Suarez made the result close, but this could have easily been a thrashing. Uruguay have not looked the same side that were, in many ways, the most intriguing team of the 2010 World Cup, and they certainly did not give Spain much to worry about before Suarez’ well placed strike.
I am positive most neutrals will be hoping Spain and Brazil can win their respective groups and take their semis, setting up a dream final that would be a walking endorsement for technical soccer. If there is a team on this planet that isn’t intimidated by Spain’s ticka-tacka possession game, it is the Brazilians. Spain are stronger in the back than Brazil, and that may be the tipping factor if these two favorites can make it to the final.
The second match of group B goes Monday in beautiful Belo Horizonte, with tiny Tahiti taking on Nigeria. I’ll go out on a limb and speculate that Tahiti will be lucky to score in this tournament, though the unpredictability of African sides might, perhaps, make this a bit interesting. Perhaps.