Recently in Confederations Cup 2009 Category

After a bit of an embarrassment, the Brazilian federation asked the Corinthians coach to take over the reins and guide the Seleção back to the beautiful game.

Earlier, Fluminese's Muricy Ramalho turned down the job, in what might be called a slap in the face of federation president Ricardo Teixeira.

Note: Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos both play for Corinthians, so the man gets it. Now, will he bring back the Brazil we love?

The ESPY "best moment" of the last 12 months......

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The FIFA/FIFPro World XI of 2009:
Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid);
Defenders: Daniel Alves (Barcelona), John Terry (Chelsea), Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra (both Manchester United);
Midfielders: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Xavi and Andrés Iniesta (both Barcelona);
Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Fernando Torres (Liverpool).

La Gazzetta Dello Sport profiles Jozy Altidore under this headline.

It is the usual missive on his massive presence.

What's intriguing is that he is juxtaposed against Freddy Adu.

Altidore's move to Hull is seen as a step in the right direction whereas Adu's European perambulations are going nowhere. It is even more strange given that Adu is just a year older than Altidore and still is part of the USMNT although his Gold Cup recall was driven by Bob Bradley's desire to see him improve his form.

What a difference two years makes. It seems just yesterday that Adu helped Altidore score two goals in a memorable win against Brazil in the U-20 World Cup. Yet, here we are and Adu has already become a byword in unfulfilled promise and fading prospects.

"The goal is to avoid becoming "the new Adu", given that poor Freddy seems destined to remain a great promise unfulfilled."

"The fact is that today Altidore is the most interesting player in the U.S. landscape."

What a difference a goal can make. Altidore's Drogba like performance against Spain in the Confederations Cup semi-finals created international shockwaves. Suddenly the Spanish media that did not give him the time of day while at Villareal were hailing the new Beast. Reactions by his team mates especially Joan Capdevila were sought and clubs came calling taken by his physical presence.

However, it is useful to keep all of this in perspective because before this rejuvenation his career trajectory was uncannily similar to that of Adu's. Altidore was heading towards insignificance with his Villareal career, shunted to second division Jerez where prospects did not improve. Adu's move to Benfica saw little action and he was traded to Monaco where he again drifted in and out of the first team.

Adu has to rebuild his career and get regular first team action. He is hamstrung by the fact that he has to compete with a group of established attacking midfielders who take precedence over him in national appearances. He has to figure whether he wants to be a big fish across the pond or if he wants another lifeline in the Mediterranean. The smart move might be coming back to the MLS. Ask Landon Donovan. Otherwise articles about his premature demise will keep on coming.

The Emirates pays tribute to the legend

Arsene Wenger on Bobby Robson:

"It was a shock because Bobby was a man of exceptional stature and someone I loved because he had an optimistic view of mankind and a positive vision for football," said Wenger.

"It's a very sad day for English football but football overall."

Robson's nurturing of youthful talent within the club ranks and prudent signings must have resonated with Wenger too.

An international conspiracy:

John Harkes in the Brazil vs USA final said at one point that US defenders will have to be careful with their tackles given how the referees have been carding them. The Italy match got the ball rolling on that controversy. Thereafter, it was a cumulative process as the US picked up their share of yellows and reds generating a buzz that FIFA did not want to see the US succeed against the bigger teams. The Brazil match should bury that. The Seleccao were carded more often.

Here is a stat that the US should be most concerned about: It is a team with questionable ball control. Of the semi-finalists, the USA passed the ball the least and were least successful in holding onto it. The South Africans made 2389 passes completing them 76% of the times. Spain was even better with 3229 passes and an 81% success rate. Winners Brazil passed 2077 times with a 79% completion rate. The US was way below on the possession index with fewer passes, 1824 passes for a poor 60% completion rate.

In short, the passing was infrequent AND even more tellingly, ineffective. When you take a lead, you also have to hold onto the ball to make it possible to win. The US failed to do that even as they led the four teams in shot accuracy.

So before assigning any international conspiracy which has a nice emotive feel consider these stats. Bob Bradley and his training staff would be better off concentrating on this aspect of the game rather than getting distracted by some unproven plot.

The "we let one get away" theme:

This has been peddled not just by pundits but also by Bradley and Dempsey. Again it has a nice emotive tug. It gives the impression that the US team let the Brazilians back into the game when they had them on the ropes. If you take away the two scoring opportunities which the US did very well to capitalize on, Julio Cesar was otherwise work free. On the other hand Tim Howard had to deal with 31 goal attempts, 13 of them on target. Under such a torrid barrage, it was a matter of when the citadel would finally fall, not if. As mentioned above with the possession stats, the Brazilians swamped the US with superior ball control and the US coughed it up more quickly making it harder for them to maintain the lead.

The two themes muddy what clearly should be obvious. The passing game needs lots of work. You might be able to bury some teams with effective strikes but sooner or later this fundamental flaw will be exposed by superior and more resilient teams.

Any chance that this Confederations Cup victory was anything but business as usual for the Seleccao should be dispelled. The USA pushed them very hard. The win is being compared to some of the great all time comebacks in Brazil's storied footballing history.

1958 World Cup: Sweden lead 1-0 through Liedholm just 3 minutes into the game. The Brazilians had to wait till after halftime to score which they did through Vava. The dam burst and they ran out 5-2 champions, the largest scoreline in World Cup finals.

1962 World Cup: The last match of the first stage. Brazil faced elimination against Spain as they trailed by a goal with 26 minutes left to play. Two goals by Amarildo ensured safe passage. In the finals against Czechoslovakia, Josef Masoupust scored in the 15 minute. Brazil responded through Amarildo to tie the match before half time. In the second half goals through Vava and Zito put the result beyond doubt.

1970 World Cup: Arguably the best team in the game's history. The Seleccao did have their unnerving moments. First against Czechoslovakia in the opening match and then against old nemesis Uruguay in the semi-finals. Both times Brazil trailed before rallying and then running out eventual winners, 4-1 and 3-1 respectively.

1982 World Cup: Tele Santana's team led by Socrates, Zico, Falcao, and Aldair. The most talented Brazilian team to have not won the World Cup. They won against the USSR, 2-1 after trailing in their opening match. In the finals, they faced Italy but after overcoming a two goal deficit were unable to put away the match losing 3-2 in the quarterfinals.

2002 World Cup: The fifth title for the Seleccao. However, they faced some anxious moments in the quarterfinals against England and Michael Owen. The Newcastle striker put England up 1-0 in the 22' minute before Rivaldo equalized in the 45' minute and then Ronaldinho scored the match winner in the last five minutes of regulation time.

Barack Obama's motivational influence now extends to soccer matches.

Kaka, the player of the Confederations Cup reveals that the Seleccao took the two goal deficit to the locker room and rallied using Obama's now famous campaign slogan. "Yes, we can!" It worked as they fought back and won scoring two goals by Luis Fabiano and the match winner by Lucio in the second half.

I wonder if Obama feels so happy with the USA at the receiving end of his slogan!

Julio Cesar also praised Dunga saying that he had been critical of him in the past but this was "Dunga's moment." He also mentioned that Brazil cannot afford to write of their opponents as the US showed in the finals.

The report also mentions that Kaka did not fly back to Brazil but left for Madrid where he will be presented on Tuesday.

USA win the moral victory but Donovan naturally says it isn't nearly enough.

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I can only shake my head at what we can expect from Brazil in the 2010 World Cup. That really should be what we take back home. We know their talent but today showed a team that would not go away. Hats off to the USA for pushing them to the limits but if the meme pushed by Alexi Lalas and John Harkes is "we let one get away" then I am sorry, that really is the wrong message. It gives the impression that the US had the Brazilians by the scruff of the neck and it was an awful display in the second half that let the US down.

Nothing could be farther from the truth as Kaka, Robinho, Luis Fabiano, Maicon, Lucio, and Dani Alves took control of the second half. In the first half, Jonathan Spector limited the damage that Robinho could do. Dempsey with a delicate touch flicked home a Spector cross and Donovan took a cross from Charlie Davis to slice a goal past Julio Cesar. The goals put the USA two up at half time. But indications that the Brazilians were moving into overdrive were already present as Bocanegra fortuitously deflected Maicon's cross past Luis Fabiano's otherwise assured goal before the half closed.

As soon as the second half began Brazil lost no time with Fabiano collecting a pass swinging around and volleying a goal home as the defense stood blindsided. The goal led to the Brazilians exerting even more pressure as they sought the equalizer pushing the US deeper into their corner. Even catching a fortuitous break when replays clearly showed Tim Howard's save off Kaka clearly came when the ball had already crossed the goal line only delayed the inevitable. The Brazilians scored again in the 74th minute with Fabiano at the right place and time to head the ball back into goal as Robinho's shot clanged of the crossbar (it looked like it had broken the line) and into his path . Brazil buried the stake 10 minutes later when Elano's corner was headed emphatically by Lucio straight past Tim Howard for the match winning goal.

What the "we let one get away" message does is that it demeans an overachieving US effort. The US lost ball possession, was overwhelmed by the huge discrepancy in shots on goals, and conceded far too many set pieces. It still served them well against Spain who ran out of ideas when they needed to score. Believe me as a long suffering Gunners fan we carry every possession stat possible when we lose to teams like Hull City. It still does not mean that those teams are better than Arsenal. However, in the final the US came across a resilient Brazilian team that had answers to the adverse half time score. Let me tell you as much as the US learned about itself, the Brazilians learned more through this match. That is why Dunga looked exultant and Lucio looked like he was about to weep. They know now what it takes to win the World Cup. True grit, baby! True grit.

The reason why I wanted the US to win has less to do with international success. It has more to do with forcing the game onto the national mainstream which only becomes animated every four years the World Cup is played. The game is given conditional love. It still lives on headlines like "USA beats world number one in soccer." Another one would have been extremely nice. But please dispense with the "we let one get away" claptrap. All it does is reinforce the same mindset that doomed us in the 2006 World Cup when FIFA gave us a ranking of number four. I mean come on.

Did you rub your eyes your eyes in disbelief?? It is true. Dempsey's flick into the net in the 10' from a swerving right on the money cross by Jonathan Spector.

And then a breakout started by Ricardo Clark feeding the ball to a speeding Landon Donovan who dishes off left to Charlie Davis as they eat up the turf past the threadbare Brazilian defense. Davis slings the ball across on the 20 yard line and Donovan traps, creates space and cracks the ball past Cesar with his left foot with great balance and composure. It must have taken all of 15 seconds for this end to end action.

The US is up 2 goals! Now comes the second half and Dunga must have chewed up the entire team. I have to say Jonathan Spector up to now has improved his game a 100% and has made Robinho work hard. Most of the attacks have emanated from the left flank.

Can the USA pull it off? Two wins against the top two teams in the world.

Kaka vs Landon Donovan

On the face of it. No comparison. Real's $90 million for the Brazilian to $1 million for Donovan's DP status at the Galaxy. However, when it comes to influencing their national squads, Donovan's role is far more important. In this match itself, Donovan has to do what he did against Spain, not just prove to be the creative spark on attack but help the defense neutralize Kaka. With Brazil having the luxury of the experienced Gilberto and the talented Melo covering the back, Kaka can concentrate on creating scoring opportunities. Donovan on the other hand will be under pressure to provide quick recovery as Brazil goes on the attack.

Jonathan Spector vs Robinho

The quick flying Robinho loves to attack down the left, cutting in quickly and opening up space with the left back Andre Santos. Spector will have to move back inside to neutralize that threat. Dempsey can track downfield to help cut off the passing lanes with Spector left free to tackle. On the attacking end, Spector can alternate with Dempsey to force the game wide and cross or pass. This might force Robinho into defensive duties.

De Merit vs Maicon

Maicon is a more complete player than Dani Alves. A speedier and better ball handler with competent defensive qualities. There were plenty of overlapping runs with Ramires down the right and Maicon was able to harass the Italians with his solo runs. De Merit's solid performance against Sergio Ramos blunted the Spanish full back's attacking instincts. He will have to reproduce that form to achieve similar results.

USA's defensive trap vs Gilberto and Melo

The US was very successful in keeping the ball pinned in Spain's half as Casillas struggled to lay the ball at the feet of his players. When he did Xavi was unable to break free as the USA stifled his supply of through balls with good tackles and running onto open players forcing him into errors. Gilberto and Melo are the relays which connect the Brazilian backfield with the midfield attack. With Davis, Donovan, Altidore, and Dempsey pressing up, they could disrupt a Brazil build up early enough without it becoming dangerous.

Altidore and US set pieces vs Brazil defence

This should be a key to the US attack. Corners and free kicks to Altidore, Bocanegra, Spector, and Onyewu provide opportunities to use their strength and aerial ability to give Brazilians some disquieting moments. Bocanegra has acquired quite a reputation with his big time headers and will be watched carefully. The Brazilian center back are quite tall with Luisao and Lucio both well over 6' so Altidore can use his physical prowess to challenge them.

The starting line ups:

USA
Tim HOWARD (GK), Carlos BOCANEGRA (C), Oguchi ONYEWU, Clint DEMPSEY, Charlie DAVIES, Landon DONOVAN, Ricardo CLARK, Jay DeMERIT, Jozy ALTIDORE, Jonathan SPECTOR, Benny FEILHABER

BRAZIL
(GK) JULIO CESAR, MAICON, LUCIO(C), FELIPE MELO, GILBERTO SILVA, LUIS FABIANO, KAKA, ROBINHO, LUISAO, ANDRE SANTOS, RAMIRES

Bafana Bafana scored first but only after 73 minutes of goalless play. Katlego Mphela (video) scored off a cross from very close to the goal .Dani Guiza's equaliser for Spain took only three minutes more.Spain's second goal came off what was meant to be a cross by Dani Guiza.Add another best moment to this version of the Confederations Cup - Katlego Mphela scored a 92nd minute equaliser for South Africa via an incredible free kick that would have made Cristiano Ronaldo want to sit up and clap. Xabi Alonso broke every heart in South Africa when he scored the winner through a free kick in extra time.He had his revenge on the vuvuzelas at last.

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Try your hand at it while you are waiting for the game to start.Go here and blow the vuvuzela.It's fun.No wonder so many people at the games can't stop themselves from giving it one more blast.It's a bit like getting to blow your own trumpet.

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Jonathan Wilson's excellent article talks about the intricate system of midfielders that the Brazilians have recently used with their 4-2-3-1 formation. The Brazilians call it a diamond with Gilberto at the base, Ramires to the right, Melo to the left and Kaka as the play maker at the apex. With this inner core, we add a Robinho to the diamond as a second striker jutting to the left. It introduces a great deal of fluidity and overlap.

On the right we have Ramires cutting infield and overlapping with Maicon, the right back with his great attacking instincts running out wide. On the left, we have Robinho who accomplishes both functions, a striker with a wing back like quality. In doing so he seems to have resurrected the role of Gianni Rivera, Milan's 1970s playmaker. Melo holds the left flank as one of the two holding midfielders while Gilberto occupies a more central space.

Soccer with this system is viewed as a set of spatial relationships rather than a more formulaic use of players to complete a deterministic formation which is more of a European legacy. Wilson does mention his surprise that Dunga who has come for some heat in the past for eschewing creativity is using this system. But Dunga with his defensive mindset, might have recognized it as a more attacking version of catenaccio called il giocco all'Italiana which the Italians used in the 1970s.

The quandary facing Bob Bradley is how much should he invest in stopping Robinho. Ricardo Clark, the only US player with any holding capabilities does duty tracking Kaka, which leaves Robinho unfettered.

Or does Bradley try what Liverpool did two years ago in the 2007 CL final, shutting down Kaka effectively by committee rather than assign him a player which would mean Donovan and Dempsey track back and help Clark, Bocanegra and Onyewu to shut down central space which Kaka operates from. That would leave Spector man to man with Robinho who likes to cut in from wide left. The disadvantage is that Andre Santos could run into the space vacated by Spector and leave the wings exposed for a set piece.

The other option is to keep Robinho preoccupied with defensive duties. Spector can push hard up field and overlap with Dempsey, dragging Robinho deeper to help Santos. The danger is obviously counterattacks which proved costly to the Italians.

.....and as we wait for the big game to kick off here's a collection of the best of the best so far - the Best goal, the Best player, the Best scene,the Best surprise,the Best save and a few more best this and thats. The Confederations Cup Trophy that they are playing for looks really neat .The blue band running across the body is just a reflection.Only the base is blue - the rest of it is golden.

More things to do while you wait for the kickoff: Read the story of the evolution of the tournament from what was initially called the Artemio Franchi Trophy to it's present form here.
If that's too many words to go through there's lots of pictures here at the Official Confederations Cup site.
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FIFA writes to the Iranian football association seeking answers following a Guardian report that four Iranian players were banned from playing for their country for their gesture of wearing green armbands.

In their match against South Korea, Iranian players Ali Karimi, 31, Mehdi Mahdavikia, 32, Hosein Ka'abi, 24 and Vahid Hashemian, 32 wore green arm bands in support of the presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was defeated in the June 12 presidential elections which hundreds of thousands of pro-reform Iranians believe was rigged in favour of the establishment candidate and present incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

A spokesman for FIFA said:

" We wrote a letter to the Iranian Federation to ask for some answers and clarification regarding the press reports over what happened to some of the Iranian players following the qualifier with South Korea on June 17."

Green was used by Mousavi as a campaign colour that is now adopted by his supporters as a symbol of their protest against the hardline regime of Ayatollah Ali Khameini.

The US team is being petitioned to wear green arm bands in their match against Brazil to show solidarity with the pro-reform movement sweeping Iran.

The movement has gathered momentum after Neda Soltan was gunned down by the Basij on June 20th. Her death was captured on video which went viral and she is now the public face of the opposition.

Nico Pitney's Huffpost liveblog contains the following petition:

To the U.S. soccer team players:

Please consider wearing green wristbands in your upcoming match in the Confederations Cup finale. It would be a sign of solidarity and compassion for your fellow soccer brethren who were banned from the game they love and face unthinkable repercussions for simply adorning a green wristband symbolizing peace and freedom. This is not politics, it is human rights. Any slap on the wrist you may face from FIFA pales in comparison to what the Iranian soccer team faced, and what the Iranian people face.

Make us proud. Make the world proud.

Send the team a message here >>

SA went down heroically to Brazil and the vuvuzelas have taken a break for a while.
While the silence lasts here's a place where you can see ESPN declaring USA's win over Spain the best upset of the year or of all time - I'm not sure which.
Vote here for the same.

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Hats off to SA. They fought hard through Steven Pienaar and Tiko Modise controlling the midfield for large parts of the game and creating a number of chances. They came closest to scoring in the 21st minute through Aaron Mokoena who was unable to keep his header down after Tiko Modise floated a cross allowing enough time for the South African captain to sneak up behind Luisao. Then Siphiwe Tshabalala's well struck free kick from 25 yards out was just parried out by Julio Cesar.

Just before the half, Steven Pienaar cracking shot from 30 yards had Cesar beaten but the ball drifted away from the goalpost. In the second half, Teko Modise's close range shot deflected off Luisao before hitting the beaten Cesar's right post in a period of domination from Joel Santana's side.

It was heading for extra time when Dunga in an inspired move brought in Dani Alves for Andre Santos in the 81st minute. His move was explained later on:

"We knew it was going to be difficult, we knew South Africa were going to attack, to defend and counter attack."

"We had to make use of any opportunity that came our way so a foul in fornt of goal was perfect for us."

The Barca wing back took a beautifully curling kick in the 88th minute when Mokoena brought down Ramires on the 18 yard line. The ball curled over the hand of the Itumeleng Khune. Brazil were through to the Confederations Cup final where they meet the USA.

After the match Joel Santana said he was pleased with Bafana Bafana's performance.

"I think we played very well against a team recognised as one of the best in world and even surprised Brazil. I'm very proud."

Personally, SA's player has always been Steven Pienaar. He's made Everton a creative force in the absence of Mikel Arteta and he does the same for the national team. As for Santana himself, he just earned a reprieve. The team looked sharp in this match. As the statistics show, ball possession was fairly even and SA even matched Brazil in the set pieces.