Confed Cup - Brazil roll, Italy disappoints, and the US gets a life line

So another international tournament and once again Brazil shows why you can never count out the magicians from South America out of any football competition. Brazil waltzed into the semi finals with a surprising demolition of Italy. Brazil seemed to have some rustiness the first game, finding themselves in a surprising close match versus Egypt but they proceeded to defeat the US and Italy easily 3-0 both games. Heading into the semi finals against South Africa, I do not foresee the sambaboys having much difficult with the hosts, which should set up a mouth watering - Spain v Brazil finals.

Of course Italy should be the ones facing the Spaniards on Wednesday, however after a devastating loss against the Egyptians: 1-0. The Azzurri found themselves mathematically threatened by a team they had handled in the first round, the US. Of course the impossible happened, the US won by 3 goals and Italy lost by the same margin! The Azzurri cannot see this dry run in South Africa as anything short of disappointing. Aside from Rossi, the Italians showed me very little, they seemed flat and uninterested. Granted this tourney is nothing more than a glorified set of friendlies, however being soundly defeated by Brazil twice this calendar year does not bode well for the Italians. Italy is in a good position for qualification, so this set back should not be a prelude to a greater malaise with the Italians, but it will raise the heat on Lippi as he heads into the World Cup as defending champion. It is already rumored that he will be pressured into rethinking some of his selections, he did go to South Africa with the oldest team of the tournament, relying heavily on players that allowed him to be victorious in Berlin 2006. Have the Italians, and more importantly they manager, fallen victim as so many former champions have to holding on to the old guard one tournament too far?? See France in 2002 World Cup, rather than purging some veterans, Les Bleus went into that tournament with a world of talent, but also some aged legs that were never able to recover, crashing out without scoring a single goal! Lippi will have to decide if he wants to head back to South Africa with the likes of Pirlo, Cannavaro, and Gattuso as the spine of his side. There is still time, however Italy will have to make sure they can discover the proper combination of players otherwise they will struggle to defend their title this time next year.

Finally, the US...they were one team I called out as needing to show something in this tournament. For once I will agree with Alexi Lalas' comments over the weekend, this is really the best showcase for the US, the Gold Cup they will not face this level of competition nor will they see this remainder of qualification. Now it can be argued the US backed into the semis...but I would also say that scoring 3 goals when that is exactly what they needed to do, against a solid Egyptian team (who also were looking for the victory since they had a better chance to go through as the game started) is a good glimmer of hope. Also, the US did play the Italians very close and were unlucky to have a player thrown out. Of course now the US play the Spanish, which will be a stern test. Could the US surprise the Spanish? Maybe. Spain might be looking ahead to their potential match up against Brazil, and get ambushed by the US. However I doubt it, Spain has been methodical and clinical in their matches recently. In addition, the Spanish are boasting the strongest midfield in the world currently as well as one of the world's deadliest snipers - Torres.



If the US can weather the first 15 - 20 minutes, defend as a block - keep the Spanish in front of you allow them to pass the ball around but do not get drawn high up the pitch allowing the Spanish midfield to dissect you with diagonal passes, overlaps and mazy dribbles. Also a lot will be asked of Tim Howard, he will need to have his A+ game for the US to have a fighting chance. Of course, the US have nothing to lose, they need to focus on the fact they have 2 more games to play and see what they can do against the defending European Champs. I think the game will be much closer than otherwise thought.

Spain 2 - US 1: Torres 1, Villa 1 for Spain. Bradly 1 for US.
Brazil 4 - South Africa 1