2013 Confederations Cup heads into Semifinals

The Confederations Cup group stage is now complete and the tournament has gone pretty much as expected-- no upsets whatsoever. As expected, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay, and Italy will be moving on to the semifinals.

Remaining schedule:

June 26th: Semifinal 1

Brazil vs Uruguay: it's going to be a South American showdown for the first semifinal. Uruguay could win this one but Brazil has been playing better lately and they have done very well in this tournament. Even they haven't played up to their normal standards over the past few major tournaments, I think they are really using the fact that they are hosts to their advantage in both this tournament and they should do well in next year's World Cup. They shutout both Japan and Mexico. Italy scored 2 goals against them but Brazil still beat the Italians 4-2. Uruguay is very familiar with Brazil so I think it will be a closer and very entertaining match.

June 27th: Semifinal 2

Spain vs Italy: a rematch of the Euro 2012 final. I don't really care for either team but when a team wins 2 Euro Cups in a row and one World Cup, I say enough is enough. I hope Italy doesn't screw up like they did in the Euro 2012 final.

June 30th: Third place playoff and title match

Before I wrap up this post, I want to give my pre-knockout round ranking since I haven't posted about this tournament much at all and I would like to discuss the other teams that were eliminated a little bit.

1. Spain: Even though Brazil and Italy could still be in Spain's way, I think Spain will win this tournament. They shutout both Tahiti and Nigeria, scoring 13 goals in total against these two teams (10 of these goals against Tahiti). Only Uruguay scored against them.

2. Brazil: For this tournament, I consider Brazil a favorite to win it all. They won Group A and took all 9 points as they were expected to, but I expected the game against Italy to be a little closer and not high scoring. Brazil shutout every opponent except for Italy and scored a total of 9 goals. Italy ruined a their chance for a clean sheet.

3. Uruguay qualified for the Confederations Cup as champions of the 2011 Copa America, South America's continental tournament. Uruguay got the group stage with 6 points losing only to Spain in a 2-1 loss. Uruguay will probably be in the 3rd place match and will most likely play Italy in the match as the final will most likely be between defending world champions Spain and hosts Brazil.

4. Italy has been disappointing in my opinion. While they did earn 6 points in the group, these were in matches they were expected to win. The 2006 World Cup champions should have kept the match against Brazil closer. I just hope that the semifinal against Spain isn't a repeat of the Euro 2012 final. Italy is lucky just to be a part of the Confederations Cup.

5. Nigeria, who qualified by winning the African Cup of Nations , won only one match-- a 6-1 defeat against Tahiti. I have to admit that I didn't watch Nigeria play. They kept a close 2-1 loss against Uruguay while Spain shut the African side out 3-0. Nigeria is usually a favorite to qualify for the World Cup finals so we should be seeing them back in Brazil in at least the group stage next year. They are currently in 1st place in their second round qualifying group with only 1 match left to play. The match is against Malawi, the only surviving member of the group. A draw is enough to get Nigeria out of the group and into the final stage of qualifying which is in a two legged playoff format.

6. Mexico did what could be expected of them. However, I have to say that the Americans were much better representative of the CONCACAF region in the 2009 Confederations Cup when the CONCACAF team actually made it the final much to the surprise of the 2008 Euro Cup champions Spain who ended up playing for third place against the South Africans The Mexicans could have played better than they did against Italy.

7. Japan is supposed to be one of the stronger teams in Asia. They were the first Asian and the first team general to qualify and join hosts Brazil in next year's World Cup finals. However, in this tournament, they did not do well. To their credit, they were not in an easy group. They did, however, have a strong showing against the Italians in a close 4-3 loss after losing to Brazil 3-0. They kept it close against Mexico but it wasn't enough to save their pride as they left Brazil with 0 points.

8. Tahiti, the Oceanian champion, had their moment on the world stage. What else is there to say about a national team that never really had a chance in the first place. They scored 1 goal against Nigeria but conceded 24 in total.