This was displayed very well at the MTN African Cup of Nations of 2008 held in Ghana where in the finals; they were up against a very promising Cameroonian side. A blunder by the very experienced Rigobert Song led Egypt to raise the cup with a 1-0 win over the indomitable lions of Cameroon. In fact, these 2 teams had been drawn in the same group and Egypt had handed them a 4-2 defeat during the group matches. Egypt then went on to beat Sudan 3-0 and then drew with Zambia. In the quarter finals, Egypt was able to defeat Angola 2-1 and then went on to defeat the great Ivorians by 4-1. In short, their style of play that Egypt has does not depend on how good the quality of a player is.

If you analyze most African teams properly, you will find that most of their attacks will be…read the complete article and others here.

The five-time World Cup champion, Brazil, beat USA in an incredible way, after being down 2-0 in the first half. However, the experienced team of Brazil came back with all they got to even the game and then obtained the victory in the final minutes. 

Both teams were criticized for their lack of performance in different parts of the tournament; first it was USA which had a very poor start in the cup, losing the first two matches, and many didn’t even though that they could reach the final. However, they proved everyone that they could compete with the big teams when they beat the European champion Spain in the semifinals. For its part, the defending champion Brazil had a very good start, but then had a very poor game against South Africa in the semifinals, being outplayed by the host team and barely earning the pass to the final with a late goal for a 1-0.

In the final, at the beginning of the match Brazil did not have opportunities in the offense due to the great defense that USA was approaching with the help of his great goalkeeper Tim Howard, whereas USA, in hands of Landon Donovan, got several opportunities to score. At minute 10, a good play of Jonathan Spector, who ran into the right side and sent a low cross into the area which Clint Dempsey accurately touched with his right leg to send the ball straight to the goal, opening the score for USA.

The Brazilians kept trying to find the way to their offense but they didn’t seem to find them. Just 17 minutes later from the opener goal,  the Americans astonished their opponents again when the midfielder Landon Donovan got the ball, ran up the middle, passed to Charlie Davies and then asked the ball back from his teammate to beat the Brazilian goalkeeper and put the score 2-0.

Everyone was surprised for the supremacy of the Americans in the first half, but in the second half things completely changed for them.

The Brazilians entered with aggressiveness and confidence and in the first minute of the second half Luis Fabiano opened the score after turning and shooting in great way with a pass of Ramires.  After that, Brazil kept pushing to get another goal, whereas USA kept fighting in defense and even Howard got to work hard to save some close opportunities from the Samba boys.

Nevertheless at minute 74th, Luis Fabiano scored again after a rebounded kick in the crossbar by Robinho to tie the game 2-2. The game continued in the same pace; Brazil attacking and USA defending but a corner kick for Brazil with just 6 minutes left, gave the Brazilians the victory after captain Lucio headed the ball, beating goalkeeper Tim Howard.

After that goal, the Brazilians just waited for the referee to announce the end of match to celebrate, jumping with joy knowing that they were once again champions of the Confederations Cup and their comeback in the game was a delight. On the other hand, the Americans looked very disappointed and they couldn’t believe that their effort wasn’t enough for the victory.

Landon Donovan expressed his frustration for losing after being so close, but he also recognized the value of his team’s achievement. “This is a massive learning experience. You always hope to do the most learning when you win, but you probably learn more by losing. If we’re smart and we take what we should from this game, we can progress. And that’s what we’re trying to do,” said Donovan.

Moreover for Brazil this means a great step to return as a force in the world football and they (the players, coaches and followers) hope they can get better by learning from some of the mistakes committed during this tournament, so they can be ready for the World Cup tournament next year.

The best of lucks for these two countries in their qualification games and we hope they could bring great football to the biggest event of all, the South Africa World Cup 2010.

Then check this out: Group A has South Africa, Iraq, New Zealand and Spain!! Well this group doesn’t look as bad. It’s still a tricky one to call but my money is on Spain and definitely South Africa to go into the next round!! But that’s just my call…Who will make it? Who will not?? Please feel free and leave a comment on the team you bet will win this group. Group B could be referred to as the group of “death’ with Brazil, Egypt and Italy. As you may know, Brazil has beat Italy in the world cup before, Italy is the current world cup holder and Egypt are the current African Cup of Nations holders. This is a group what checking out. My money is on Italy and Brazil but yet again you can have your say. Wait a minute!! There’s something worth checking here: the United States and Iraq are……read the complete article and more More information on the http://fifa-confederations-cup-soccer-teams.blogspot.com“>Fifa Confederations Cup 2009 here.

The Brazilian national team will be fully represented at the confederations cup in South Africa. For any soccer lovers, you know how excited you get and sometimes begin to drool when the likes of Kaka, Ronaldinho, Adriano and Robinho get the ball on their feet. These are some of the players worth checking out at the confederations cup in 2009. The whole Brazilian squad is quite impressive from the defensive player to the attack minded strikers. Some of the big names in world soccer that will be included in this team are the likes of Julio Baptista, Elano, Lucio, Maicon and the young talents that we would like to see would be Pato, Anderson (Man Utd) and Marcelo. Trying to analyze each player on their own is a whole web page on its own but here are some key names to watch out for.

After the many rumors of being bought by Man City, Kaka has to be one of the most talented players in the soccer world today. His skill on the ball, the quick touches and the great finishes that he displays are some of the things we look forward to see in the Confederations Cup and also in the World Cup, that’s if they qualify (it’s quite obvious they have a chance of doing so). Having 2 other great soccer players in the likes of Robinho and Ronaldinho alongside him, we expect that some defenders will be doing more of dancing on the pitch rather than…read the complete article and others here.

With some of the greatest names in the world of football coming from this country, it is quite hard to put a starting 11 but let me try:…read the complete article and others here.

From the current form of its players, the ideal starting 11 for Italy would be: Buffon (in goal), Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Gamberini and Dossena in defence, De Rossi, Aquilani, Del Piero, Pirlo in midfield and Luca Toni and Gilardino in striking. Since the whole team carries with it experience, the strength of the team is well balanced throughout the positions. Other names that could make headlines are Perotta, Di Natale, Camoranesi and others (add a comment at the end of this post to who or what you think will work). As observed in the world cup of 2009, Italy can do wonders. They may not have the speed and creativity that comes with many current sides, but they definately have the heart to win and the experience is an added advantage. One player I really like is the man Gatuzzo. He is a mean looking beast and meeting him on the pitch, I would guess, would be worse. I remember during the 2006-2007 UEFA champions league where he…read the complete article and others here.