It was rather a bad luck for Mexico or should we say a brilliant comeback from Spain when they came from behind and overcome their pre-quarterfinalist by 2-1 in the Under-20 world cup. Spain, who is already Under-19 European champion, will join other confirmed quarterfinalists France and Uzbekistan in the last eight. The match began keeping Spain as the favorite but when Arturo Gonzalez’s brilliant diagonal shot could not be stopped by Daniel Sotres, it was 1-0 on the scoreboard in Mexico’s favor. We have already seen in Confederation Cup final that what an initial lead can mean for a team, and here, when Mexico got the initial lead, it was like a repeat of Confed. cup final for Spain where they were in a similar situation after Fed’s initial goal. But today was the day for European champions and they showed the world why they are the top ranking team in the world. Soon after an initial trail, Spanish strikers took the game more aggressively by their wonderful shot passes theory, but … [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...]