Fred and Paulinho helped Brazil secure a place in Sunday’s final of Confederation Cup 2013. They defeated their Latin American rivals in the semis thanks to Paulinho last minute header that ensured they will either play with Spain or Italy at Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. The match was rather a nail biting one where both teams struggled throughout the match to crack opponents defense, however, Fred could somehow manage to push Neymar’s cross to the goal post in the forty second minute giving his team a much deserving lead. Uruguay was not in a mood to let it go so easily and Edinson Cavani took advantage of an error by Brazil captain Thiago Silva and hit a low shot just six minutes later and equalized the score without wasting much time. It was then a draught of goals from both sides coz both teams did not let opposition find their nets. Goalkeeper Cesar performance is especially noticeable coz he saved first-half penalty convincingly otherwise Uruguay could have a lead right in the … [Read more...]
Balotelli gives a perfect start to Italy in Confederation Cup
1 - 2 Milan’s notorious striker Mario Balotelli gives a perfect start to his national team when he capitalized a penalty area chance and fired a low shot to score the winner for his team in Confederation Cup here in Rio. It was an illuminating night with thousands of fans cheering both the teams but Balotelli, who is often in the news for his non-soccer activities, stole the show during the last moments of the game. Italy won the game with 2-1 margin over Mexico and it was the 100th match for midfielder Andrea Pirlo who scored the first goal of the game in twenty seventh minute. Game started with a sticky note for both the teams as both of them are strong competitors for each other, but psychological advantage went into Azzurri favor when they took the initial lead in first half with Pirlo’s trademark free kick. Mexico offered some resistance in the middle, in fact, striker Javier Hernandez, who plays for Manchester United, helped them equalize the lead within first half … [Read more...]
Brazil 3-0 triumph over France in Confederation Cup warm-up match
It was just a warm-up match ahead of next week’s Confederation Cup where Brazil successfully defeated its rival France with a 3-0 margin – something it always wanted since 1992. Notably, Brazil has not beaten France in any international match since a friendly success twenty one years ago. Both these teams have since met six times: two of them ended in a draw while French side taken the lead in four of them and who can forget the 1998 world cup final along with 2006 quarterfinal defeat? France captain Karim Benzema has not done anything interesting this year losing three out of four played matches; perhaps France is on second place to Spain in its world cup qualifying group. Looking at the winning margin, it looks like it would have been a one sided affair, but on the contrary, France was dominating right from the beginning; perhaps it was the second half when Chelsea playmaker Oscar opened the score tally for Brazil from a close range shot. Around 30 minutes later, another Brazilian … [Read more...]
Ronaldinho is the captain for friendly against Chile
Many critics have long been saying that days of Ronaldinho are over, but it is a slap over their faces when Brazilian coach has announced him as the captain of national squad for a friendlier against Chile. In fact, this is a great opportunity for two time player of the year award winner to prove his form, and hopefully, to be selected for the upcoming Confederation Cup. Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has always been an admirer of Ronaldinho and that is why he again showed his confidence in him when he offered him another chance to prove his strength. Actually, it has been a close competition between Ronaldinho and Kaka coz coach wanted to have any one of them in the last friendlier before the world cup warm up tournament, and when it was cleared that only Brazilian clubs’ players will be chosen, Ronaldinho place was confirmed. Another good news for Ronaldinho is that he will be the captain of Brazilian squad which is a great honor considering his age whereby he can prove his leadership in … [Read more...]