THE FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP:TEAM BY TEAM ANALYSIS

GROUP B
URUGUAY 
            Uruguay come into this tournament after very successful and convincing World Cup and Copa America tournaments.They along with Spain and Italy are aiming to win the tournament to join Argentina and France as the teams that have won all FIFA tournaments.The Celeste,have had an indifferent world cup qualifying process.They have played 12,lost,drawn and won 4 times each,and have picked up 5 points from 21 avaliable.This leaves them with 16 points and 5 points behind Chile in the final automatic qualifying spot,although they have a game in hand.They have the 2nd worst record defensively conceding 21 whilst scoing 18.The team is coached by Oscar Tabarez.He has been at the helm since 2006,after previously been head coach from 1988-1990.As said he has been largely successful with Uruguay,taking a team that had failed to qualify for 3 out of the previous 4 world cups,to 4th place in the Copa America of 2007 and then 4th place in the World cup in 2010 and the Copa America of 2011.Uruguay are blessed with some of the best players in the world with the likes of Fernando Muslera,Alvaro and Maxi pereira,Diego Lugano,Christian Rodrguez,Nicholas Lodeiro,Gaston Ramirez,Luis Suarez,Diego Forlan and Edison Cavani.The Uruguains have sometimes played a 3-4-3 or a 4-4-2 formation in qualifying but i expect them to play a 4-3-3 system which they look more comfortabke with.Their full backs attack with pace from the back and they use a midfield of 1 holding midfielder ,1 controlling the midfielder and 1 attacking midfielder.Their 3 strikers,Suarez,Cavani and Forlan to me are as deadly as it can get.All 3 know each others game well and can interchange at anytime,knowing where to be,when to move.They are very dynamic and together they have various devastating traits that would dismantle any team in the world.Their centre back pairing at the Copa America of Lugano and Coates may not be the same as Diego Godin has had a by far better season than both and,both made 10 and 12 appearances respectively for there clubs all season.Players to watch for the initial world cup winners has to be the front trio of Suarez,Cavani and Forlan.Enough has been said about how they play already,looking at stats Cavani has 17 goals in 55 appearances,Forlan 33 goals in 98 appearances and Suarez 32 goals in 64 appearances.I personally feel Suarez will overtake Forlan in this tournamentas Uruguay's all-time top scorer,especially with a team like Tahiti in their group(no offence to them).Suarez may,also be playing for a move,I said may? Scratch that,Suarez is playing for a move seeing as how he has now been moulded into the Most hated player in England by the English media,he is desperate to leave amd has been giving Real madrid open invitations to come and take him ever since he joined up with the squad.Cavani is also another man who with a good performance may increase his suitors,as he is already pursued by the world's biggest clubs.Forlan will want to prove that he is stil the image of Uruguain football and will not want to leave the crown of all-time top scorer that easily.Other players like Gaston Ramirez and Christian Rodriguez will want to make amends for a slighlty below par season by their standards






Uruguay will be looking at this tournament as a means of sending a message to everyone that they still have the spark of 2010 & 2011 and are definitely one of the favourites.They will want to do better than their last appearance in this tournament when they finished 4th,especially since it is on South American soil.Their 3 forward men are also players out to prove a point in Brazil and with their deadly finishing don't bet against them delivering a deadly blow to the 7 other teams by winning the tournament.



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THE FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP:TEAM BY TEAM ANALYSIS

GROUP B
TAHITI
     Honestly,before i saw the groupings for this Confederations cup,i had never heard of a nation called Tahiti.Intially i thought it was Haiti wrongly spelt ,but then i realised Haiti technically belonged to North America and they already had Mexico.So i had to do a lot of research on them to find out about them and what to write about them.This is the hardest article i have to write in this Confed Cup series.It took a lot from me.Enough said now to the main business.Tahiti became the first team other than Australia and New Zealand to win the OFC Nations cup.They did so with a 1-0 win over New Caledonia,in a match they were expected to lose as New Caledonia had already beaten tournament favourites New zealand 2-0 in another suprising result.This although is not the first time Team Fenua have qualified for a FIFA tournament.They qualified for the 2009 FIFA u-20 world cup in Egypt were they met Nigeria,Spain and Venezuela.They lost those games 5-0,8-0,8-0 respectively.The coach of Tahiti a former player of the National team Eddy Etaeta knows that they won't win the tournament and possibly may not pick up a point too in the tournament but he is just proud that they are going to Brazil "The people of Tahiti will be happy that we are going to play against Spain and Brazil,it is amazing and we shall enjoy these moments".They are currently ranked 135th in the world. They will not have the opportunity to particpate in Brazil next year as they have failed to qualify for the world cup,so this is there world cup.They played a 4-4-2 system in the final of the OFC Nations cup Final,but in all honestly i expect them to play a10-0-0 formation in this tournament,trying to play on the counter.Players to watch for the Islanders would be primarily 2 players.1st of all,we look at the man who actually brought them to Brazil,Steevy Chong Hue,he scored the winner in the OFC Nations cup final,the winger has scored 11 goals in 22 appearances for his country.He is the 2nd player in the squad that has played outside the country,with spells in the Belgian 2nd division.The second player to look out for and the most experienced is Marama Vahirua.The striker,yet to be capped,has played for Nancy,Liorent,Nantes and Nice.He is now plying his trade in the Greek top division for Panthrakikos.The hopes,although very little of a nation rest chiefly on these two






Tahitians are not hoping for anything big,they are going to Brazil to have fun and enjoy the moment.Any goal scored will be celebrated like they won the World Cup.A 1-0 or 2-0 defeat would be awesome.To say a defeat would be awesome tells you how much an underdog they are.They are without doubt the biggest underdogs in the tournaments history.They may have just 1 professional footballer in there entire squad with the rest,teachers,fishermen,salesmen,but one thing i do know, is that Tahiti have spirit and with this spirit  plus happiness and excitement that they are in a major tournament,i'm expecting them to give the other teams a real good run for their money.So Spain,Nigeria,Uruguay watchout...Tahiti will be no pushovers



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THE FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP:TEAM BY TEAM ANALYSIS

GROUP B
SPAIN La Roja or in full la furia Roja.Spain are the reigning world and European champions and will want to win the only tournament that they have participated in and have not won since 2008,The FIFA onfederations cup.Cesc Fabregas recently stated that they were going to treat the tournament like a world cup.In all honesty La Roja have a better overrall squad than the class of 2008,2010 and 2012,as they can now call on players who are on the top of their game(Mata,Carzola,Javi Marthinez) but from the starting 11,everyone with the exception of Jordi Alba and Iniesta dropped in form or lost his place with his club side (Casillas)(Villa and Arbeloa to an extent).La Roja are coached by Vicente Del bosque.The former Real madrid coach has won everything at the highest level except the confederations cup.He has at his disposal probably not only the best team in the world,but maybe the best team in history.His team are arguably the most compact squad at the tournament many of the squad members have been together since 2008.They play a 4-1-2-2-1 formation,with every player in each position already known.But since Euro 2012,there has been a problem.The number 1 striker position.Torres was the number 1 striker with Villa and Iniesta sligtly more towards the wing but just behind.But the loss of form of both Villa and Torres,especially Torres has given Del Bosque a headache.Villa can easily be replaced with David Silva.But for some reasons Del Bosque has little faith in any spanish striker.This was evident at the European Championships were he prefered starting Fabregas as the number 9.But that,he may not be able to do in Brazil because of the injury to Xabi Alonso.The Real madrid man is part of the spanish engine room,with Xavi Hernandez and Sergio Busquets.He delivers the aeriel through balls,which is his speciality unlike the through balls on the ground,he can do this but not up to the standards of his aerial balls.This problem is solved by the architect,Xavi Hernandez.He can give the though balls on the ground,but aerially not that well.Xavi and Alonso complement each other perfectly.But Alonso is out,so is this a problem? Yes.But the effect can be reduced,Spain have a player who,when he was younger was said to have the qualities of both Xavi and Alonso,i'm not talking about Benat,i'm talking about Francesc Fabregas.The Barcelona man showed this at Arsenal,but since moving back to catalunya,he has not been quite the same player.He,in my opinion should replace Alonso,Del Bosque should forget using him as a false 9.He will understand Xavi better because they are at Barcelona together.Another option would be to play a 4-3-3,with a Barcelona midfield of Busquests,Xavi and Iniesta,then Fabregas,Villa and Silva.This would be easy to play because 5 of the 6 players mentioned play for Barcelona and i can make a strong bet that this has been done before with Barceola.Del Bosque can also use Javi marthinez as a direct replacement for Alonso,but that would make spain more defensive and cancel out that aerial passes.But realistically,Spain won't change their style.With that solved who will lead the line for La Roja.Torres,Villa,Soldado,Pedro?.Robeto Soldado has the best record of all the strikers with 30 goals in 46 matches and he did he's chances no harm by scoring against Ireland last night.But i personally feel David Villa should lead the line.He has a better goal ratio than Fernando Torres and has more International experience than Soldado.The goal keeping spot is also a slight issue,because of the lack of match practice Iker casillas,but really,i cannot imagine him on the bench for this tournament,no offence to Pepe Reina and Victor Valdez,Iker Casillas is the best Keeper in the world and symbol of spanish football.A few outtings in friendlies would get him back in shape.Another issue may be that of the right back position.Alvaro Arbeloa as the usual person,but he had a below par season which made Madrid exercise a buy-back clause and bring back Dani Carjaval,which may see him loose his spot with Madrid,but before that he may lose his spot too in the national team to caesar Azpilicueta.The Chelsea man had a fantastic season and will definetly be able to replace him.But just like Soldado,he has little experience in competitive international tournaments.I personally feel Javi Marthinez was the best holding midfielder in European football this past season,i feel Del Bosque should use himself and Busquets in turns,such as the way Real madrid use Benzema and Higuain.Although i feel Marthinez is a better player,due to the fact that he heads the ball better,he is also better playing in defence,and even the pass accuracy which will make Del Bosque prefer Busquets over Marthinez,he has improved on that wonderfully well this season,although not to Busquets' standard.Del Bosque did not call up Michu who had a fantastic season with swansea and to me its very sad to see him not make the squad.Alvaro Negredo who scored 31 goals in 42 matches will be wondering what he has to do to be a regular for Spain, last season he scored 14 goals in 36 matches and he made the squad for Euros.Javi Garcia who was terrible in the EPL,made the initial squad.This i find perplexing.That said the,players to watch for Spain,first of all their captain,Iker Casillas.As i stated earlier, saint Iker was left in the cold by Jose Mourinho last season and the spanish will be looking up to him for inspiration.Xavi,Iniesta amd Sergio Ramos have all called him the symbol of spanish football in recent weeks.In the World cup in South Africa and the European championships,spain conceded a total of 3 goals.This is how good the man is,although critcis will say he has a strong defense ahead of him,but i only need to remind such critics of the 2 saves he made from Arjen Robben.Another man that viewers should watch closely is Cesc Fabregas.If indeed he replaces Alonso,he will be under scrutiny for everything he does,the Spanish will hope he does well in that position and also hope he does not give-in to pressure if things don't go well.The next inspirational player in the Spanish team after Casillas would be Andres Iniesta.Going into this tournament he is the most consistent of all the forward players for Spain and also managed to finish the season with the most assists in La liga.He scored the world cup winning goal in South Africa and was also the best player at the European championship.Don't bet against him repeating the act in Brazil .Players like Juan Mata and Santi Carzola are fringe players for Spain,such is the frightening quality of La Roja,they would want to do well when given the opportunity,and expect them to do so.






In all honesty Spain are the overwelming favourites for the tournament,they are motivated to hold The world cup,the European Championship and the Confederations cup at the same time,something only France have done and are also motivated to join France and Argentina as the only teams to win all FIFA international tournaments (World cup,Confederations cup and the Olympics).Spain have been criticised for not scoring much at competitions.They are also criticised for not having a plan B,if things are not going there way.But any spandard will tell you he doesn't care how the win the tournament as long as they do it.It would take a brave man to bet against La Roja winning this tournament,my advice:DON'T



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THE FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP:TEAM BY TEAM ANALYSIS

GROUP A
JAPAN
        NIPPON DAIHYO represents Japan in association football.They won the 2011,asian cup and hence participate in the curtain raiser.They finished in 2nd place in the 2001 edition.They are coached by Italian Alberto Zaccheroni,the former Milan coach has much experience at the highest level and is on the right track in terms of making Japan the best in Asia and also a house-hold name in world football.Expect to hear a lot of the "Nippon ole"  chants in Brazil.The Japanese lost 3 games on the bounce before scoring a last minute equaliser against Australia,made them the first team to secure their place in Brazil next year,after Brazil.Now the confederations cup presents itself to them as a chance to test themselves competitively ahead of next year.Zaccheroni has stated that the tournament will act as a "building block" for next year.Japan play a 4-2-3-1 system.They have highly attacking players with Keisuke Honda as the 10 and Shinji Kagawa on the left,but he will the first to tell you that he prefers playing in the middle of the park.Then the stuggart Shinji Okazaki who has scored 33 goals in 63 matches for Japan. Players to watch for the Blue samurai  are definitely Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda.Honda is struggling for fitness and may not make the tournament,but the people of japan would be hoping that he can make the flight to Brazil.Kagawa on his own will what to be at the best he can when the tournament comes around.But a somewhat more crucial player is their captain Hasebe who provides the team with a lot of energy and drives them on and on.Japan are hoping to go one better than 2001,but with the quality of the other teams,it would be quite an achievement if "Zaccheroni japan" can pull it off.

                                                                                              

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THE FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP:TEAM BY TEAM ANALYSIS

GROUP A
MEXICO
        Mexico, are one of the most colourful teams that will enter into the competition.El tri qualified for the confederations cup by winning the CONCACAF gold cup,but are in danger of not qualifying for the main event next year.Mexico will want to win back the love of their fans who have slighlty turned against them in recent qualifying matches,by repeating what they did in the 1999 edition and win the tournament.They are coached by Jose Manuel de la Torre.Torre's tactics have been somewhat disturbing seeing that he has changed Mexico into a defensive minded,less creative team.I for one,am not pleased with Torre,because i remember Javier Aguirre's world cup team,who were technically good and fast.Torre's team tend to play with a cautious formation,with two centre midfielders who are defensive minded.Defensively they are sound because they haven't conceded at home during qualification for the world cup.But this has affected the offensive side of Mexico as they have scored 3 goals in 5 matches.The team has the ability to be better offensively as they play a 4-2-3-1 system.The problem,as said earlier is that they play two deep midfielders who are both defensive minded.They can change this by bringing in Hector Herrera,who will replace Gerardo Torrado.Herrera will be a box to box midfielder to create more goal scoring opportunities.I personally feel the team will be favoured more with Giovanni Dos santos playing on the right wing  and cutting into the centre,with Raul Jimenez behind,Javier Hernandez and Javier Aquino/Andres Guardado playing on the left.PLAYERS TO WATCH for El tri,and of course first on the list is Manchester united striker,Javier Hernandez Balcazar,also known as Chicharito.The Mexican would lead the line in Brazil and will also be expected to bang in the goals for Mexico.He is the man that defenders will be wary of,especially with his high poaching abilities.He also has a good leap on him,which makes him very good aerially.He has scored 32 goals in 47 appearances for Mexico.He has also scored 5 goals in Mexico's 9 qualifying matches.He will be assisted by Giovanni Dos santos,who really showed his potential this season but was sadly relegated with mallorca in La Liga.I for one would love to see him back in La Liga.He has pace and will trouble any defence.Guardado has seen his influence go down after scoring 1 goal in 32 matches for valencia in La liga,so he'll like to get that back with a good showing in Brazil.





Mexico will go into the tournament without Carlos Vela who scored 14 goals in la liga this season,who fell out the coach and hence cost him his place in the Confederations cup.They will also be without Oribe Peralta who scored 4 goals in 6 matches at the olympics games last year,including the winner against Brazil in the final.Mexico will fly to Brazil after a world cup qualifier against costa rica at home,and they will want to return home with the confederations cup,just like they returned home with Gold,from London last year.

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THE FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP:TEAM BY TEAM ANALYSIS

GROUP A
ITALY
       Ah! The Azzurri,four-time world champions and perennial competiton favourites.Italy are heading into this tournament,aiming to win it for the first time.They will be hoping that the awful outting they had in the last two FIFA tournaments,were they left in the group stages.They are coached by casare prandelli,the former florentina coach struggled intially but has now forged a team worthy of winning any tournament,this they showed in Euro 2012,by getting to the final,beating a fantasic German side,only to be outplayed by probably the best team in footballing history:Spain.But since after the European championship they've played 7 matches winning 2.They can point to the fact that the 2 they won were competitive matches,while the others were friendlies.I watched them play last week against Czech Republic and they were outplayed on the night.As with Brazil on my previous article they have a formation problem.Whether to use a 4-2-3-1, a 4-3-3 or 3-5-2 formation.Prandelli has previously stated that his team were not suited to a 4-3-3 system.But he can play that with the juve backline of Chiellini,Barzagli and Bonucci,along with with either Christain Maggio or Ignazio Abate.Then a midfield trio of Pirlo,Marchisio and De Rossi.A trio of Balotelli,El shaarawy and 1 of Giovinco/Gilardinho/Diamanti as the forwards.Also a 4-2-3-1 system would work,with the same  backline,then Marchisio playing as the the number 10.With any of 2 strikers mentioned above playing on the wings then the another up top.A 3-5-2 system will go well,with the Juve backline replicating what they do for their club for their country then one of Maggio/Abate playing as a right wing back while De sciglio playing on the opposite flank.In midfield,its the same shape with Juve except its De Rossi instead of Vidal.But De Rossi can do what Vidal does,just think back to the 06/07 season when he showed us the stuff he is made off,and the stuff that made Marcelo Lippi  give him his 1st cap.With 2 strikers which i think should be Balotelli and El shaarawy.I personally would go with a 3-5-2 formation against "weaker" teams or teams that do not have strong wing play.Juventus and Napoli have used this formation to great effect over the pasr 2 years.But against stronger teams,i'll go for a 4-3-3 system to fend of the strong wing play,Bayern destroyed Juve with their wing play in last season's champions league when Juve stuck with their 3-5-2 formation.I don't think Italy have natural wingers to play a 4-2-3-1 formation.Prandelli hinted that he could call up francessco Totti or Antonio Di Natalie,after both players(both above 35) had fantastic seasons for their respective clubs, could be called up,but he didn't call them at the end,that was suprising to some, as many felt that at least 1 of the 2 should have been called up.Totti had previously retired,but he came out of retirement,because critics said he showed more passion for Roma than Italy.He scored 12 goals in 34 matches last season,while Di natalie scored 23 goals in 34 appearances.Also suprising is the fact that Giovinco who scored 7 goals in 31 league matches + no goals in15 matches for Italy,was called up.Prandelli can point out the fact that Giovinco is younger and has lightening pace and could bring more options since he can play on the wing and that Totti has just 9 goals in 54 appearances for Italy,while Di natalie has 11goals  in 42 matches .The truth be told the Italian strikers have a bad record for their the national team.El shaarawy has 1 goal in 7 appearances while Balotelli has the best record with 8 goals in 21 appearances. PLAYERS TO WATCH for the azzurri. First name that comes to my mind is SUPER MARIO.He is a fantastic talent and can produce on the big stage(*unlike 1 brazilian i know*) as seen with his performance against Germany in Euro 2012.But he has the tendency to go crazy and do stupid things that will get him sent off,this can be seen with their last match against Czech Republic.He together with El shaarawy will probably lead the line for Italy and Italians will be hoping that they won't just lead the line but lead the team to Confed cup glory.








One man who is probably more important for Italy than Balotelli,is Andrea Pirlo.He is the heart of the azzuri,the man who makes the team play,without him Italy's chances of winning the tournament are reduced drastically.As seen with juve against Bayern,when he was kept at bay,Juve looked dead and could not do anything.Casare Prandelli,will do well to prepare for that type of situation happening and find a solutiom to that problem.One thing is for certain though,Pirlo is a boss for days and has so much class that many players at the tournament will only dream of having.On his day he can win any match and make opposing midfielders feel like they're amatuers (just ask England what happened in the quater final of Euro 2012).Pirlo is the Choir master in the Italian Choir.








Other players will love to do there chances at the world cup no harm by performing well in Brazil.Players will Buffon,Chiellini,De Rossi will hopefully be at their best,for us all to have a fantastic tournament.But now,all has been said,let's go and see it happen on the pitch, FORZA ITALIA! ! !

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THE FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP:TEAM BY TEAM ANALYSIS

The FIFA Confederations cup is traditionally a curtain raiser for the actually world cup.This year it will be held in Brazil,the home samba.As with all tournaments there are expectations and drama will definitely unfold.On this article you're going to get a glimpse of what is going to unfold in Brazil.
GROUP A
BRAZIL: I start my analysis with the host nation,Brazil.The selecao are going into this tournament as favourites as they always seem to do going into every tournament.Although with their lowest world ranking of 22nd,the brazilians still believe in themselves and believe they can win the tournament as they did with the last two editions especially under the man who brought them their last world cup,luis felipe scolari..In the 7 matches he has beem head coach the selecao have won just 3 .He has a lot of experience at this level but he seems like a man trying to find his feet with the wealth of talent avaliable to him.He doesn't yet know which centre back pairing he prefers,either Thiago silva or David luiz/Dante.Although of recent,he has shown a preference for David luiz.He also has the same problem in the centre of midfield between Fernando,Hernanes and Paulinho.As with the centre backs,of recent he has gone mostly with the latter 2 of 3.Then the attacking trio always has Oscar & Neymar,but the 3rd person could be Lucas moura or Hulk if he's not playing up top ahead of Fred.Brazil will definetly miss Leandro damiao who is out of the competition due to injury.Scolari took a gamble not calling Brazilian legends Ronaldinho & kaka,but taking them would have been a gamble on it's own.The exclusion of Chelsea midefielder Ramires is somewhat suprising seeing as he has been a regular in the Brazilian squad.Lucas of Liverpool would also be disappointed not to be called up,but then again,many players would also be disappointed not to be called up after a fairly reasonable season.But an exclusion that suprised many was the exclusion of the 20-year old Philipe Coutinho.The Liverpool man had a brilliant second half of the season with the merseysiders,he created the most chances in the Epl starting from his debut in February.Oscar played 34 games in the Epl scoring 4 times assisting 7. Coutinho played 13 times scoring 3 goals assisting 7.Also he played12 times for the Brazilian u-17 and u-20 scoring 6 times .These stats alone show how good the youngster is,anyway maybe he's a star for the main event next year.The brazilians have been handed a very tricky group,because in all honesty,the gulf in class between Brazil,Italy,Mexico and Japan is not that much,if any.People consider Brazil and Italy as the two that will qualify,but Mexico and Japan are teams that will always give their all,and as said earlier the Brazilians are still trying to find there feet and only look superior because they are Brazil,while the Italians have not been the team that won plaudits for their performance at Euro 2012.I personally am expecting a really tight group and for those who bet i'll advice you keep your cards close to your chest.Players to watch the first name which certainly comes to everyones mind would be the new Barcelona player Neymar.He will be out to prove a point for people who think he is over-hyped,overrated & just a "you tube player",although he had that chance at the 2011 edition of the Copa America and also at the Olympic games of 2012 and didn't perform as he and his Brazilian counterparts would have hoped for.Neymar has the tendency to go missing in big games,he tends to showboat when it's not necessary and is not also the best at tracking back to help the defence.Another man hoping to put on a good show at the Confederations cup is Oscar.The Chelsea midfielder has been named man of the match in the 7 matches Scolari has been in charge,this alone tells you how important he is to Brazil's hope of winning the Confederations Cup.He is also seen as the Robin while Neymar is the batman of the Brazilian juggernaut.They together with Lucas Moura,Hulk and their captain,Thiago silva,who many believe to be the best centre defender in the world, and who recently described the Brazilian defence as "leaky" will be hoping to light up the tournament and win the Confederations cup in style just like their 1997 counterparts won it in style with Ronaldo,Romario,Rivaldo and Denilson running the show.The bottom line is Brazilians want to win the Confederations cup for the 3rd time in a row & for the 4th time overall.





                                                      

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