Brazil top of the pile

Brazil moved to the top of rankfootball.com after winning the Confederations Cup in South Africa. The opening match that will be remembered for a bizarre miss by the hosts ended with Iraq earning a 0-0 draw, while in the same group Torres bagged a hat-trick as Spain demolished New Zealand 5-0. On the 2nd day Brazil started brightly but Egypt matched them for goals until a last minute penalty scored by Kaka left Egypt with no time to reply and Brazil with a 4-3 victory. Italy laboured to a 3-1 win against USA who were down to 10 men for a large portion of the match. On day 3 a single goal for Spain against a defensive Iraq was enough to see them through, and South Africa got off the mark with 2 goals against New Zealand. Brazil eased past the Americans wit 3 goals on day 4, while Egypt celebrated a 1-0 triumph over world champions Italy. A goalless draw between Iraq and New Zealand saw both teams eliminated from group a, while South Africa joined Spain in the next round despite losing to them by 2-0. On the last day of the group matches an amazing turn of events saw Italy and Egypt head home after The Italians lost 3-0 to Brazil, and Egypt lost by the same score to the plucky Americans. In the semi-final matches USA pulled off a huge shock by defeating Spain 2-0 to reach the final where they would meet Brazil who ended South Africa’s hopes with a goal 2 minutes from time. Spain claimed 3rd place with a win over their hosts in extra time, and Brazil were given a first-half shock by the Americans but came from 2 down to score 3 times in the second half and win the Confederations Cup.
Full reports on all the Confederations Cup matches can be read at footballreporter.co.uk

Watch goals from final in Portuguese.

Privileged six enjoy summer break

With the World Cup finals just a year away 5 teams will be taking a worry-free break having already joined hosts South Africa as the first nations to qualify for the competition. Japan became the first team to book their place in the finals after earning a 1-0 victory against Uzbekistan in Tashkent. Four days later the jubilant Japanese only managed a 1-1 draw at home to Qatar. Australia did not mind their goalless draw in Qatar as it was enough to secure them qualification. South Korea secured a seventh successive World Cup finals place thanks to a 2-0 victory over the UAE in Dubai, and were joined by their neighbours North Korea (pictured celebrating) who held Saudi Arabia to 0-0 draw in Riyadh 11 days later.

The Netherlands became the first European team to qualify after a 2-1 win in Iceland. Partly avenging their embarrassing home humiliation, Romania turned the tables on Lithuania with a 1-0 win in Marijampole. Sweden lost ground with a 1-0 home defeat to Denmark, as did Finland after going down 3-0 to Russia in Helsinki.

In the CONCACAF section Costa Rica are leading at the half-way stage having defeated the USA 3-1, while Mexico who lost 2-1 in El Salvador are languishing in 4th place. Chile, the surprise package in South America, moved up in Mark’s Rankings after winning 2-0 away to group leaders Paraguay who consequently relinquished the top spot to Brazil who swept aside Uruguay 4-0 in Montevideo.

In Africa Gabon enjoyed a 3-0 home win against Togo while Egypt lost 3-1 in Algeria before jetting off to play in the Confederations Cup. Ghana were 2-0 winners in Mali and a single goal gave Burkina Faso all 3 points in Malawi.