The USA were well on the road to their first ever men’s FIFA tournament win today (June 28th) after they took a 2-0 lead over Brazil in the final of the 2009 Confederations Cup at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, South Africa. However, they made the fatal mistake that most teams do once they get a lead, they simply stopped playing and let the game slip through their fingers as Brazil came back and punished them for it wad walked off the pitch with a 3-2 win after 90 minutes.

Clint Dempsey got the Americans of to a great start as he scored in the 10th minute on their first attack of the game as he bounced a shot past Brazilian keeper Julio Cesar.

Robinho came down left wing in the 13th minute and unleashed low right-footed shot that toward the far low corner, but keeper Tim Howard dove and turned it away with a fine save. Howard also made excellent stops in the 25th and 27th minutes and then Landon Donovan scored his 41st goal for the USA on a lightning-quick counter attack. Donovan slotted home a left footer into the low corner to the left of Cesar after a pass from Charlie Davies and the USA found themselves up 2-0 after just 27 minutes.

Howard made a fine save in the 35th minute and then Luis Fabiano headed over the bar just a few seconds later on the ensuing corner kick. Fabiano then missed a chance to get Brazil on the scoreboard before the half ended as he missed a low cross in injury time.

However Fabiano made amends for it in the first minute of the second half as he drove home a low left footer from edge of the box to make it 2-1. It was obviously the worst thing that could have happened for the Americans and it was a sign of things to come.

Howard made another fine save from a corner in the in 58th min and just a few moments later, Kaka, with a downward header, looked like he had tied the game up, but the ball was pushed out by Howard and off of the crossbar. Television replays couldn’t show if the whole ball definitely crossed the line because of their angles, but it looked like it may have gone in.

Dempsey had a chance to make it 3-1, but his left footer was saved by Cesar in 66th minute. In the 67th, Brazilian manager Dunga made a double substitution as he brought on Elano, and Daniel Alves came on for Andre Santos and Ramires.

That seemed to spark the team and Fabiano beat the offside trap in 70th minute and broke in on Howard, but the keeper came off his line well and made the save.

Brazil finally tied it at 2-2 when Kaka’s close-range shot hit the crossbar and bounced out right to Fabiano, who headed the rebound into the net for his tournament-leading fifth goal in the 74th minute. The inevitable happened just 10 minutes later as Brazilian captain Lucio headed in a corner kick from Elano in the 84th minute for the 3-2 winner and Brazil’s third Confederations Cup title.

The Americans only have themselves to blame as they didn’t continue playing the style that had put them in front 2-0. They failed to attack with any consistency at all in the final 45 minutes and paid the price for it.

In the third-place game, Spain beat hosts South Africa 3-2 in extra time.

If the South African coaching staff had read the article “Time to tear down the wall” in our football strategy section they might have made it into the Confederations Cup final. Instead, the host nation was beaten by Brazil 1-0 today (June 25th) in the 87th minute on a long-range Daniel Alves free kick that beat keeper Itumeleng Khune after nicking the far post. Alves had come on just seven minutes earlier as a substitute for Andre Santos.

If there had been a defender at the post, at least South Africa would have had a chance of stopping the thunderous shot. In fact, the shot might have even hit him. Instead, South Africa will have to settle playing for third place in the tournament while it will be Brazil vs the USA in the final on June 27th. This was by far the best game the hosts played during the event and with a little better aim, or a touch of luck they could have won it or at least took it to extra time. They approached the game positively and had more chances to score than Brazil, but keeper Julio Cesar thwarted them on every occasion.

Again it showed that previous records and odds and winning streaks and whatever else you want to include, don’t matter at all once the game starts. If you’re a boxer and your opponent can punch like hell, you either have to smother him or keep him on the defensive so he can’t unload on you for 12 rounds. This is what South Africa realized and instead of inviting the Brazilians to attack them for 90 minutes and hope for a lucky punch, they took it to them whenever they could and came oh so close.

The South Africans weren’t afraid to shoot…from anywhere actually, and they hammered several long-distance shots that were saved by Cesar or just missed the post by inches. Brazil, of course, created quite a few chances of their own, but Khune handled everything they could throw at him. After the goal, South Africa had a hard time getting possession of the ball and that may have had a lot to do with a massive three-man substitution that was made in the 90th minute. The changes seemed to spoil the team’s rhythm and they never really regained the ball long enough for them to snatch an equalizer before the final whistle.

In fact, Brazil should have doubled the score in injury time though, as Fabiano was in all alone on Khune, but the keeper came out well to block the shot. As far as Brazil goes, they didn’t play badly, and could have had another goal or two as well, but it definitely won’t go down in the history books as one of their greatest performances. You could have seen the relief on manager Dunga’s face when Alves’ shot hit the back of the net.

The South Africans will be thinking about all of the glorious chances they missed and the saves that Cesar made, but they sure gave it their best for the 50,000 home fans and for the millions watching on TV around the world. It was a game well worth watching.

There are probably millions of Spanish football supporters around the world going WTF?

Well, in 1980 the USA pulled off the “Miracle on Ice” when they beat Russia for the gold medal in ice hockey at the Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York, and today (June 24th) they pulled of the “Miracle on the Pitch” as they beat European champions, and the top ranked team in the world, Spain 2-0 in the semi final of the Confederations Cup in South Africa. Not only did the loss end Spain’s world-record winning streak of 15 games, but it also ended their unbeaten string at 35, meaning they are still joint record holders with Brazil. It was Spain’s first loss since being beaten by Romania in 2006.

But as I said the other day, anything can happen once the whistle kicks off the game and I wouldn’t have bet the farm on Spain. That’s why the games are played. Anybody can beat anybody on any given day.

The Americans actually played a pretty good game, especially in the first half. They put pressure on the Spanish ball carriers and it worked like a charm. They jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a fine goal by Jozy Altidore in 27th the minute. Altidore earned a yellow card for his selfish celebration of taking off his shirt and I was hoping he’d end up with another yellow somewhere along the line. Taking off your shirt is an automatic yellow and anybody who does it is a buffoon. You scored a goal, big deal!. The way they guy celebrated you’d think he just discovered the cure for cancer.

Spain had a couple of chances to tie things up, especially just before the half time whistle went and Fernando Torres wriggled his way into the box, but American keeper Tim Howard was in perfect position to make the save on the near post.

The USA relaxed too much at the start of the second half though and Spain took it to them. Howard had to make a couple of fine saves to hold the lead. There was a shout for a Spanish penalty in the 53rd minute, but the referee rightly let play carry on. It looked like Spain would level things up sooner or later, but the Americans came down the pitch and took advantage of some sloppy defending and Clint Dempsey slid the ball in the back of the net in the 74th minute to double the lead to 2-0.

That goal looked like it deflated Spain and took the heart out of them. They did create a few more chances, but the USA defended well, especially by blocking shots when Spain got into some good shooting positions. There was one last lifeline though, as American Michael Bradley was sent off in the 86th minute on a straight red card and Spain come close to banging one in just moments later. But it wasn’t meant to be and the USA walked away with a well-played and earned 2-0 win.

It was an entertaining game, but the officials are still calling plays offside that clearly should be let go, especially if FIFA is trying topromote attacking football and looking for more goals during games.

The USA will now sit and watch the other semi final between Brazil and hosts South Africa on June 25th, to see who they’ll play in the final on June 28th. It’s the USA’s first FIFA final ever for the men’s senior team.

It can happen in the blink of an eye. Just ask Italy. Their Confederations Cup world came crashing down around them today (June 22nd) in the matter of a few minutes as Brazil ripped them apart with some fascinating attacks between the 37th and 45th minute to take a 3-0 stranglehold on their Group B game. To add insult to injury, the third one was an own goal.

I’ve often thought Brazil has been over rated throughout the years, but must say I was quite impressed with their performance today, in the first half anyway. They only need a point to go through to the semi finals, but they sure aren’t just playing for a typical boring draw with the world champions.

It’s actually half time in the match now, and although Brazil seems to be in complete control, it’s really annoying to listen to the announcers keep on saying that there’s no way back for Italy. I suppose no team in the history of football has ever come back from a 3-0 first half deficit. Tell that to Liverpool please. Who can forget their comeback from 3-0 down to win the European Cup? These guys should keep their mouths shut and stick to reporting on the game.

Meanwhile, in the other Group B game, The USA is leading 1-0 over Egypt and there are just so many possible scenarios to go through to tell you who can make it to the semi finals and how, so I’m just going to enjoy the second half of the match and will. Talk to you later.

Well, not too much happened in the second half. Italy didn’t perform any better and Brazil took their foot off of the gas a bit. Italy only created one or two chances and whenever they did try an attempt on goal it sailed off target. So the final is 3-0 for Brazil.

Too bad for Italy, they usually ride their luck as far as they can take it in tournaments like these, but today they were simply beaten by a better team. But even though they were getting completely outplayed by Brazil, they still had a chance of going through, depending on the other result.

This is where it gets really interesting. All Egypt needed was a win, or a draw to go though, and they could even lose the game and still get to the semi final. However, they could only afford to lose by two goals. So to make things edge-of-the-seat exciting they found themselves down 3-0 to the USA with 19 minutes to go in the game. On the other hand, the USA had to win the game and they had to win it by three goals and Italy had to lose by three.

And to complicate things even more, the US could have still gone out if Italy had lost by three, but scored one or more goals. Anyway, Egypt, America, and Italy all had three points, but the Americans ended up on the same goal difference as Italy, but scored one more goal.

In Group A, things weren’t quite as frantic. Spain set a new world record by winning its 15th game in a row and tied the record of 35 games without a loss, held by Brazil, when they beat host South Africa 2-0. South Africa had a bit of luck on their side as they wouldn’t have gone through if Iraq had won against New Zealand, but that ended in a 0-0 draw. South Africa only needed a draw to guarantee a semi final spot, and that’s what they played for, just one point and that got burned by it.

The semis will see Brazil play against South Africa on June 25 and the USA hooking up with Spain on June 24. The smart money says bet on a Brazil vs Spain final. But as you know from today’s games, anything can happen in football so don’t bet too muc

African champions Egypt have put themselves in a good position to advance in the Confederations Cup with a 1-0 win over world champions Italy on June 18th. The result just goes to show that football matches are won, lost and drawn on the pitch and nowhere else.

Egypt deserved to win and perhaps other teams and managers (such as Iraq) should be forced to watch a tape of the game to realize that if you put a little effort into and actually attempt to win a game, anything can happen. Italy won’t soon forget it as it was their first ever loss to an African nation in 15 games. It also shows that the gap between African and European teams is quickly narrowing.

All four teams in Group B, Italy, Egypt, Brazil, and the USA still have a chance to make it into the semi finals. Brazil has won both games and sits on top of the group with six points, followed by Italy, and Egypt with three each and America with none. However, America plays Egypt next on Sunday (June 21st) and Italy takes on Brazil. There can be no match fixing here. Brazil can go through with a point, but a draw might not do Italy any good if Egypt wins. It should make for quite a gripping pair of games.

The USA was beaten 3-0 June 18th by Brazil and are a minus five in goal differential, it would take a miracle for them to go through, but miracles have been known to happen every so often.

It shouldn’t have come as such a surprise that Egypt was able to take all three points against Italy as they lost in the last minute to Brazil in their opening match. An unmarked Mohamed Homos sealed the win for the underdogs as he powerfully headed home the winning goal off of a corner in the 39th minute.

Of course Egypt’s veteran goalie Essam Al Hadari had to make several saves to earn the win, especially in the second half, but that’s his job and he did it well. It also took a little luck and some help from the wood work as Vincenzo Iaquinta rattled the crossbar with a long-ranger for Italy with a few minutes to go in the game.

Italy’s manager Marcello Lippi took the loss in stride though and said, “All the teams today are very good. You always have to be at your best. We tried some different things. It didn’t go very well. Their keeper made three or four very difficult saves.”

Lippi might regret making five changes from the side that beat America 3-1 in the first game though. Captain Fabio Cannavaro came back and played in his 124th game for his country, which is just two shy of Paolo Maldini’s Italian record of 126.

Whoever goes through on Sunday will have to face Spain and either host nation South Africa, or Iraq as the two semi finalist from Group A. That group will be decided on June 20th. Spain has already clinched a top-two spot with six out of six points.

Here’s something new for football, controversy. After just one round of matches at the Confederations Cup in South Africa, there’s already been plenty of it.

The biggest fuss surrounded the thrilling 4-3 win by Brazil over Egypt in Group B on Monday (June 15th). Brazil seemed to have the game in control and were cruising with a 3-1 lead in the 52nd minute, but Egypt struck with two quick goals and the game was all squared up at 3-3 by the 54th minute.

The one point would have been a moral victory for the Egyptians and of course it would have helped them immensely in the standings, but somebody always has to spoil the party and this time it was Egyptian defender Ahmed Al Muhamadi, who handled the ball on his goal line just before the game was over. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Muhamadi then went down as if he’d been hit in the head with a cricket bat.

English referee Howard Webb originally fell for it and pointed to the corner, but after a chat with the fourth official, he then pointed to the penalty spot about two minutes later and gave Muhamadi the heave ho from the game. Kaka then calmly strode up for Brazil and slid home the game winner.

Now, the fact that Webb called a penalty didn’t seem to upset the Egyptian coaching team as they freely admitted it was a penalty. In fact, a blind man could have spotted it from the last row of the stadium, and of course that’s why the three refs on the pitch missed it.

What upset the Egyptians is the fact Webb pointed to the spot after they claim he was told it should have been a penalty by the fourth official after said official watched a video replay of the infraction. Egypt filed a complaint at the way the penalty was called, not why it was called, because they say replay isn’t allowed.

Well, it was a nice try and of course there’s no way to prove it. But this nonsense is the exact reason that replay should be brought into the game. It was a blatant penalty and if the fourth official didn’t say anything it would have been daylight robbery. It took about 10 seconds to see via TV replays that the ball was clearly handled by Muhamadi and his injury was a figment of his imagination. What the hell is a fourth official good for if he can’t tell the referee what’s going on during the game if he sees it with his own two eyes?

The America vs Italy Group B game also stirred up some emotions as a dodgy penalty and red card were awarded by the referee in that affair. The US had Ricardo Clark sent off in the 32nd minute, but then took the lead seven minutes later on a penalty as Landon Donovan converted from the spot for his 40th goal for his country. It wasn’t enough though as Italy came back with goals in the 58th, 71st, and 90th minutes for a 3-1 win.

In Group A, Fernando Torres scored a hat trick in the first 17 minutes as Spain thumped New Zealand 5-0. In the other Group A match, host nation South Africa drew 0-0 with Iraq.