THE FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP:THE VERDICT

Well with the group analysis done and dusted,i guess its time i give my personal verdict on the whole tournament.I begin in Group A,the group consists of hosts Brazil,Italy,Mexico and Japan.This group has been called the group of death.The teams are not too far from each other in standard.The first match of the tournament and the group between Brazil and Japan,is going to be a tough one which Brazil will just win,with a score like 3-1.If this was the Mexican team that went to the World cup,i'll say they'll draw against Brazil,but it isn't,its going to be a close game with the Mexicans outstanding defence.A 1-0 victory will settle it.I fancy Italy to take the maximum 9 points.The match against Brazil will be a close one.A game between Neymar and Balotelli and as i said in the Italian article,Balotelli is a big game player and Neymar isn't.Italy would win that game by a score of 2-1,and hence top the group.So at the end its Italy to top,Brazil second.Mexico last because i feel Japan will beat them.In Group B Spain like the Italians will breeze through the group collecting the full 9 points as they did in 2009.It will be difficult but they'll do it.Tahiti sadly will do what i'm expecting Spain to do,but in the opposite manner,they will lose all 3 games,although i'm hoping for an upset from them.The second spot would be fought between Nigeria and Uruguay.Its going to be based on three things,1st who scores more goals against Tahiti,which Nigeria are at a disadvantage because they'll have one day to train before the match especially after a long and tiring trip to Brazil,also without 2 key goal threats Emenike and Moses.Uruguay on the other had have 3 deadly forwards who will want to use this match to win the golden boot.2ndly who concedes fewer goals against Spain and finally who wins there group match which i feel will be a tough draw.Like 2-2.I'm picking Spain to top as already said,then Uruguay to come 2nd because of their 3 front men who will score more than the Nigerians against Tahiti.Then,with what i said we will now have a semi final of Brazil-Spain,Uruguay-Italy.In the first one,its going to be a tough match which Spain will win,they'll hold on to possession as they normally do and render the likes of Neymar useless.The main threats to Spain will be Lucas Moura or Hulk,Moura for speed and dribbling ability,Hulk for power and Speed,Pique tends to get bullied by strong defenders eg Drogba.If Brazil are not having the ball Neymar will be ineffective,a good example of this can be seen in the  Barcelona vs Santos match in 2012.In the 2nd match its going to be very tuff.Italy vs Uruguay,that match will be decided by an error,a big decision from the ref, a piece of individual brilliance or even penalties.But i feel Italy will prevail.Now its a 3rd place match between Uruguay and Brazil,again both sides may want to play fringe players for the game and if that happens,Brazil will win,but if it doesn't,another tight game which Brazil may be lucky to win.The final,will be a repeat of the Euro 2012,final and like last year,Spain will prevail,but this time with difficulty this time,Italy will want revenge,Spain will want to have the honour of holding the World Cup,European championship and the confederations cup, + are still hurting from the last edition.I expect them to pass the ball around alot and as with most of there tuff matches end up winning 1-0.So come June 30th Spain will be Confederations cup champions ending Brazil's run of 2 successive victories in the tournament.






Top scorer in the tournament is a difficult one with many top strikers on show,players Like Hulk,Neymar,Balotelli,El shaarawy,Forlan,Chicharito.These guys score goals but i'm giving this one to one of Suarez or Cavani.They play Tahiti and are both auctioning themselves for clubs.They will look at Tahiti at a match to score like 3 goals or more + the others they will score during the tournament.However i'm going for Suarez,he is the one with the more desire to leave his club, than and will want to use a golden boot award to add to his CV plus he is also more selfish than Cavani






Best goalkeeper i expect it to be Iker Casillas,he has had his troubles this season,but i expect him to start for Spain and lead them to Glory.He has conceded just 3 goals in Spain's last 2 tournaments and i don't see him conceding many more.






Best Player....many people will be expecting Neymar,but no.I doubt this is his tournament,it is definitely going to be Balotelli's tournament.But i'm going for the man who won the best player award at last year's Euros.Andreas Iniesta is that man.As said in my article on Spain.He is the only one of the forward starters who maintained his forn during the past season,and he will be the one to pull the strings for La Roja and together with Casillas will led them to glory






No matter what happens in Brazil,we are definitely going to have a feast of  samba football and hell of fun,with the colourful brazilians and there beautiful ladies,we are going to have a lot to feed our eyes on.If the tournament is up to half the fun we experienced in South Africa 2009,then get ready to love football even more.The Confederations Cup is upon us,lets go out and support our teams.Good luck!








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