World Champions Spain kicked-off their Confederations Cup campaign with a tough match against South American Champions Uruguay. The match, which was played at the Arena Pernambuco in Recife, was the first Group B match in this year’s competition.
Spain, who were the stronger team in the end, emerged winners thanks to two first-half goals from Barcelona striker Pedro Rodriguez and Valencia’s Roberto Soldado. Liverpool’s Luis Suarez managed a consolation goal for his side towards the end of the game with a brilliant free-kick but, as it had looked from the start, Spain bagged all three points.
Although Spain had dominated the game from the first whistle, it took them 20 minutes to finally score an opener against Oscar Tabarez’ men. When the Uruguayan defenders failed to clear a Xavi Hernandez corner sufficiently, his Barcelona teammate, Pedro Rodriguez, received the ball and saw a good opportunity to shoot home from the edge of the box and took it. His shot took a big deflection off Malaga defender, Diego Lugano, and went into the net to make it 1-0 to Spain.
Galatasaray and Uruguay goalkeeper, Fernando Muslera, was beaten yet again just 12 minutes later on the 32nd minute when Spain scored their second goal; this time from a bigger mistake. Some good football by another Barcelona player, Andres Iniesta, allowed Cesc Fabregas to get the ball in the center and pass to Roberto Soldado on the edge of the box. Valencia’s top scorer then confidently put the ball past Muslera, who was, by this time, already having one of the worst birthdays ever for a goalkeeper!
Uruguay’s Edinson Cavani had had a chance to head things level shortly before Spain’s second goal, but he was unsuccessful. Spain continued in their strength and confidence for the remainder of the first half and went into the dressing-rooms with a comfortable 2-goal lead.
At the break, Oscar Tabarez introduced Lazio’s Alvaro Gonzalez for Southampton’s Gaston Ramirez. Vicente del Bosque made no changes and was, unsurprisingly, comfortable with a squad that had enjoyed a whole 78% possession in the first half.
The second half started more or less like the first one had: with Spain continuing to dominate. The World Cup Champions had a chance to make it 3-0 four minutes after the second half whistle, but Pedro Rodriguez was unable to receive a good Roberto Soldado cross.
Tabarez made his second substitution when nothing changed for his side, bringing on midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro for Internazionale’s Walter Gargano. Vicente del Bosque responded almost immediately by making his first substitution, Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla for Cesc Fabregas 20 minutes into the second half. Tabarez, after a glance at his watch, then made his third and final substitution bringing on his side’s top scorer, Diego Forlan for Bologna’s Diego Perez.
Uruguay had gotten stronger than they had been in the first half and caused the game to even-out for some minutes before scoring a consolation. After 38 minutes of tough football from Spain, Luis Suarez was finally gifted a chance to reduce the deficit after Sergio Ramos fouled him in a good position, favorable for his kind of free-kicks. Suarez shot and scored from the resulting free-kick and redeemed his side.
A powerless Iker Casillas in the Spain goal, who had had almost nothing to do for the whole game, this having only been Uruguay’s second shot on goal for the whole night, could do nothing to stop Suarez’ brilliant curling shot. With this goal, Suarez becomes Uruguay’s joint top goalscorer (alongside Diego Forlan) with 33 international goals for his country.
Despite the brilliance of Suarez’ goal, however, Uruguay were unable to get a second goal and Spain, who are now unbeaten in 23 games, finished with all three points. Spain had dominated a very large portion of the game and enjoyed 71% possession overall. Uruguay had been fortunate not to have conceded more than just the two goals they did. Fortunately for Oscar Tabarez’ men, however, they have a good chance against the remaining Group B teams. Their next game is against African Champions, Nigeria’s Super Eagles, whose wings they will hope to clip.
Andres Iniesta was elected Budweiser’s man of the match for the hard work he had done to help his side secure a deserved victory on the night.
Written by Ange Marline









Italy lie second in Group A after they claimed all three points in the iconic Maracanã stadium. Balotelli scored the winning goal for the Azzurri with 12 minutes to go, after Hernandez scored from the spot to cancel out Pirlo’s majestic free kick.
On the 52th minute, Italy had another free kick, and up stepped the magician once again. Pirlo failed to lift the ball over the wall, however, it trickled through and Chiellini got a rushed shot away, only for Corona to save. Around the hour mark, Mexico attacked Italy through the center; Guardado ran into the back of Chiellini and down went the Mexican.
4 years have passed since the last Confederations Cup and another year left until the 2014 World Cup over at Brazil. Now, in recent lights, Uruguay have been booming with success as they reached their glorifying goal in winning the Copa America after knocking out Messi’s Argentina and the on-form Paraguay.
Uruguay will be looking to counter at a blistering rate and break Spain’s weary offside trap. Spain’s weak point will be losing the ball upfront, and if the ball is automatically converted to either of the flanks, then Uruguay might just see themselves playing a 3v3 battle upfront; that could just be enough to score a goal or two. As for their back-line, it needs to be as compact as ever, and Caceres needs to control his runs upfront because any misinterpretation could lead to a through pass which eventually leads to an easy tap-in.
The FIFA Confederations Cup started well for this year’s hosts Brazil as they managed a significant win over Asian champions, Japan. After a beautiful and colorful opening ceremony, Brazil opened this year’s competition in the best way possible, with great goals from Neymar, Paulinho, and Jo.
Japan, by conceding early once again, had repeated the same mistakes they had made in the first half and Zaccheroni wasn’t pleased. 3 minutes later, Nuremberg’s Hiroshi Kiyotake was replaced by Ryoichi Maeda to seemingly intensify Japan’s attack. Unfortunately for the Japanese side, however, Brazil were well-prepared at the back.
Spain faced Norway in the under-21 Euro Championships, hoping to clinch their second successive spot in the final of the tournament, and after a run of impressive results, went to the match as clear favorites. Norway, on the other hand, was hoping to get to the final for the first time in its history in any UEFA competition by beating the favorites.
Spain’s early and aggressive press made it difficult for Norway to exploit the space the wingback’s runs could have left in the defense. However, Spain didn’t ever really get close to the goal in good shooting positions; Norway packed the middle and looked solid defensively. At times, Spain, with Isco as a winger, even looked like 4-4-2 and lacked width because of that. Only Tello and Isco himself got relatively close to scoring, and Spain was constantly dangerous whenever the latter had the ball.
We’ve gone from one extreme to another; the most successful start to a season in the club’s history to one of the most humiliating endings to a Champions League campaign for many years. It’s fair to say that this season has been full of the most extraordinary highs and lows and, but we’re now La Liga champions so that incredible beginning to the season has finally got its rewards.
When it comes to our defense there really is no easy solution to explain quite how appalling it has become. Certainly the defense has suffered from its fair share of injuries but it can’t be the only excuse. At times, the players simply haven’t played well enough. Gerard Pique has shown brief signs of brilliance but overall has had yet another incredibly disappointing season. Pique has been rated among the best in Europe for the last few years, but I’m beginning to think that he no longer deserves to be considered.
If Barcelona fail to buy a genuine center back this summer, then Tito can be seen as the culprit with all responsibility. How can you expect to win anything when you’re allowing a weakened spot to stay weakened whilst other teams strengthen in attack? The fact that Deportivo, who were in the relegation spots at the time, were able to put 4 goals past us is a sign of just how bad things got.
Of course that’s probably not entirely Tito’s fault. David aside, no one could have guessed that both Pedro and Alexis would choose the exact same season to go completely off form. Pedro has been out of form since almost the beginning of the season and this one is more than a little forgettable for the star. Alexis, on the other hand, despite some real blunders in front of goal, has recently improved enough for me to think that perhaps his season wasn’t a washout and there is still something we can gain from keeping Alexis. Even when he wasn’t able to score, his ability to drag defenders wide, create distractions for other players to sneak in and score and then use his pace to get back and help out the defense was remarkable at times. Alexis is, in my honest opinion, one of the most underrated yet most hardworking players at Barcelona and deserves a lot more credit than he gets.
Hoping for a bigger role for Manchester United next season, the Confederations Cup provides a perfect opportunity for Kagawa to prove his worth at the top level of the game. In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, he claimed he wasn’t overall satisfied with his first season with the Red Devils:
With the prodigal son of Stamford Bridge, José Mourinho, finally returning for a long-awaited special spell at Chelsea, transfer speculation is already rife in central London. When Mourinho first arrived in 2004, he brought in relatively unknown players, such as Didier Drogba and Michael Essien, and made them into champions.
Montenegrin forward Stevan Jovetić is one of them, with the Arsenal target thought to be unhappy at Fiorentina. Jovetić has a more modest scoring record in Serie A (34 goals in 115 games) and as such would command a more modest transfer fee, potentially around the £25million mark. At 23 years old, he is three years Cavani’s junior, and is celebrated as one of European football’s most exciting young talents. A fan favorite in Florence, Jovetić has stunned La Viola with this statement alerting Chelsea, Arsenal, and Juventus of his availability:
Other names have been mentioned – Edin Džeko, Xabi Alonso, and even Cristiano Ronaldo – but the debate has arisen as to whether the arrival of a new forward would even be necessary, and if one does come in, whether someone would have to leave. Six Chelsea players hit double figures last season, including the contradictory Fernando Torres. Torres scored 23 goals for the club, seemingly a successful season, but only eight of these goals came in the Premier League, with the majority scored in the Blues’ successful Europa League run.
On June 2nd, the American Soccer Association celebrated their 100th Anniversary at RFK Stadium in Washington DC, the nation’s capital. This would be the RFK’s 22nd international match for the USA Men’s Team, making it the stadium to have hosted the most international games for the team.
It only took 6 minutes into the second half for another goal to be found. On the 51st minute, after Germany had been awarded a corner which was taken by substitute Max Kruse, SV Hamburger’s Heiko Westermann got away from the American defense and headed brilliantly towards the net from 7 yards to make it 2-1. The half-time changes seemed to have completely changed Germany’s game.
David Beckham made his first appearance for the England national football team on September 1, 1996, in a World Cup qualifier against Moldova. He had featured in all of England’s qualifiers for the 1998 World Cup in France, but then England manager Glenn Hoddle accused him of not focusing on the tournament. He did not start England’s first 2 games of the tournament, but was picked for the 3rd match and scored from a long-range free-kick in a 2-0 victory. This was his first goal for England.
Beckham was partially fit for the 2002 World Cup and played in the first match against Sweden, scoring the winner against Argentina from the penalty spot and causing Argentina to fail to qualify for the knockout round. England were knocked out by eventual winners, Brazil at the quarter final stage. Beckham played in all of England’s matches at Euro 2004 in Portugal, but the tournament ended in disappointment for him as he had 2 penalties missed against France and Portugal respectively. England lost 2-1 to France and were knocked out by eventual finalists and hosts Portugal in a penalty shoot-out.
Beckham was soon succeeded as England captain by Chelsea defender John Terry. He was left out of the England side until May 26, 2007, and he started against Brazil. It was the first time he had featured for England since stepping down as captain. He also set up England’s goal, which was scored by John Terry. He did play his part in England’s qualifying games for Euro 2008, but it was all in vain as they failed to qualify for the tournament.