The Confederations Cup

I like to write about international soccer tournaments for some reason.  It takes a ton of time to write and nobody reads it, but for some reason I get great satisfaction out of it.  So here is my prediction and preview of the 2009 Confederations Cup.

What is the Confederations Cup?

From ESPN:  Since 1997, the Confederations Cup (in its current format) has pitted the top ranked teams in each federation against each other in a tournament that is more than just a test of World Cup facilities.

The competition is contested by the winners of each of the six FIFA confederation championships (CAF, CONMEBOL, UEFA, AFC, OFC, CONCACAF), along with the FIFA World Cup winner (Italy), and the host country (South Africa.)  It is held every four years on the year before the World Cup at the upcoming host country.  It is kind of like a dress rehearsal for the World Cup.

The tournament was originally organized and held in Saudi Arabia and called the King Fahd Cup contested by the Saudi Arabia team and some continental champions.  In 1997 FIFA took over the organization of the tournament and established what it is today.

This leaves us with an interesting tournament as each of the six FIFA confederations are quite different.  Some confederations are full of great teams while others are a mediocre talent pool.  For example, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has such national teams as Germany, Italy, Spain and France while the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) consists of teams Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, and Fiji to name a few.

Side note, team USA’s confederation is one of the longest acronyms ever.  CONCACAF - Confederation of North, Central American and Carribean Association Football.

So who is in this tournament?

This year the Confederations Cup will consist of Brazil, Egypt, Italy, Iraq, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, and the United States.

On November 22, 2008 draw for the competition was done in Johannesburg.  Each team was represented in the draw by their competitor in the Miss World 2008 competition, well except for Iraq which was represented by Miss World 2007, Zhang Zilin, from China.  I understand why Iraq wouldn’t have a Miss World representative but it seems odd that China would represent them, oh well.

The two groups came out like this.

Group A:  South Africa, Spain, Iraq, and New Zealand

Group B: United States, Italy, Brazil, and Egypt

This certainly leaves us with an easy group (Group A) and a hard group (Group B).

The top two teams in each group move on to the next round.

So how will each team fair?

Group A

South Africa

South Africa automatically got a bid as they are the 2010 World Cup host.  They aren’t much of a threat but they have home pitch advantage.  They tied Iraq earlier today which is better than I thought they would do.  I think South Africa will beat New Zealand maybe 1-0.  This will be nice as they can get their confidence up to play Spain.  Unfortunately their confidence will quickly be crushed as Spain is going to beat them around 4-0.  South Africa will not make it out of the group stage.

Spain

Spain must have been really happy when they saw the group they got put in.  Every other team is much less talented.  Spain is currently playing New Zealand and should score soon, in the end I think Spain will win 2-0 or so.  After beating New Zealand, Spain will play their toughest group match, against Iraq.  Spain will come out victorious with a 2-1 score.  Spain will then play South Africa and beat them as I said before, 4-0.  Spain will easily make it out of the group stage.

Iraq

Iraq has a decent team and they shouldn’t have too much trouble getting out of the group stage.  I am surprised that they tied South Africa though.  Iraq will next play Spain and lose.  After their tie and loss they should redeem themselves with a solid win over New Zealand and make it out of the group stage by having a better goal differential than South Africa.

New Zealand

New Zealand unfortunately is going to lose every game.  The All Whites just aren’t on the same level as the rest of the teams.  They will have a quick tournament and a quick exit.

Group B

United States

The United States is a decent team but unfortunately they are going to have a hard time getting out of Group B.  They will need to pull an upset over Brazil or Italy which is pretty hard to do.  I think that they will lose close ones to both and beat Egypt but that won’t be enough to get them out.

Italy

Italy is a good solid team who are the current World Cup champions.  Italy is known for playing very tough defense where as soon as they score a goal they are content to play keep away for the rest of the game.  Some people love Italy, I hate their style of play as I find it extremely boring.  Italy will beat the US and Egypt but lose to Brazil.  Italy will be the Group B runner up.

Brazil

Brazil is the team to beat in this group.  They have gotten stronger on defense while still maintaining their quick play.  Brazil is going to win every game to make it out the group stage.  The Brazil v. Italy match should be an excellent game.

Egypt

Egypt is unfortunately going to have a hard time as I think they will lose every game.  Egypt is also a decent team but Italy and Brazil are just too good.  Egypt could pull an upset of the United States but I’m pretty confident they aren’t going to win any games.  They will not make it out of the group stage.

Semi-Finals

If everything goes the was I think it will (it probably won’t) we will end up with two interesting semi-finals matches.  Spain v. Italy and Brazil v. Iraq.

Spain v. Italy will be a great game where Spain has a difficult time scoring but in the end is victorious with a 1-0 score.

Brazil v. Iraq will be pretty lopsided and Brazil will win 3-0.  Hopefully Brazil will have kind of their way with this game and play with lots of confidence and flair.

This leaves us with the third place match of Italy v. Iraq.  Again, I think Iraq will lose in a boring 1-0 game.  Italy will score and then play their poor excuse of soccer called keep away.  If you are reading this and are part Italian or something, I’m sorry if this offends you, but the Italian style of play is boring, boring, boring.

While the third place match should be lame the final will hopefully more than make up for it as Spain v. Brazil should be a great match between two attacking teams known for quick play with lots of style.  Last year Spain won the European Cup and have proven to be one of the best teams in the world.  They have many excellent players in Sergio Ramos, Xavi Hernandez, David Villa, and one of the best players in the world Fernando Torres.  Brazil is always a juggernaut in international tournaments as they constantly have great talent.  Brazil also has an excellent squad with such players as Robinho, and Kaka (who just signed a six year contract with Real Madrid for around 67.2 million euros).  I think that this game will go back and forth but in the end Spain will win with a score of 2-1.

So there you have it.  I’m very confident in my picks but maybe this will be like the Euro cup where I proceeded to get much of it wrong.  Good luck to me.