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.

There can be no big surprises at the fact that Real Madrid captain, Fabio Cannavaro, reportedly turned down the chance to go and earn some big money at Manchester City.

Cannavaro is just the latest rumoured target for the City merry go round in a football reality where money quite clearly doesn’t talk. Cannavaro’s decision comes without massive shock because once again City are trying to punch above their weight before they have solidified the foundations of the club.

After losing a regular starting place at Real Madrid under their manager, Juande Ramos, Cannavaro’s future has become uncertain. It seems a lot more likely that he will return to Juventus this summer to rejoin the club where he formed his reputation as one of the best defenders in the world.

He made just fewer than 100 appearances at Juventus and should he decide to return then it may turn out that it feels to the club like he had never been away. This personal satisfaction could be just the thing that sways the eventual decision.

You have to admire City’s ambition. Kaka, Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o and now Cannavaro have all been approached with unrealistic financial figures being offered to sway a decision they would otherwise not even think about.

Cannavaro said in the Italian media: “I didn’t want to have start from scratch again, not in a World Cup year. That’s why I rejected offers from Bayern Munich and Manchester City.”

The move once again defies the comments made by Manchester City defender, Nedum Onuoha, last month that players will join City this summer for football reasons. Well this instance proves that no amount of money or solid football foundations can prevent a player from going to where he wants to go.

City could have offered Cannavaro the same figures they were reported to have offered Kaka to leave AC Milan and he still would not have thought seriously about joining.

It all points to the fact that City will have to sign less high profile and more experienced players to build the success that will get the attention of better quality players.

This news comes just days after City were reported to be trying to draw Eto’o away from Barcelona in what was quite literally a nonsense attempt. Fair enough City have massive financial backing at the moment but the club’s owners have to realise that the football transfer market is not a candy shop where they can go and buy who they want.

Despite the financial influence in the modern game, money is not what makes day to day club routine tick. Comfort and job satisfaction are clearly valued by players such as Cannavaro a lot more than hundreds of thousands of pounds per week. Far from it, Cannavaro probably has a good couple of million in the bank to fall back on once he retires from the game in Italy.

There will be many more stories like this one but if City sign any big names this summer it will be because those players display more mercenary tendencies than a large amount of sporting ambition.