Grit, Spit, and find Neymar.....

 

(with a few dives here and there)

Brazil 3-0 Spain

The Lineups:

Brazil: Julio Cesar; Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Marcelo; Paulinho, Gustavo, Oscar; Hulk, Neymar; Fred.
Subs: Jefferson, Fernando, Lucas Moura, Hernanes, Dante, Filipe Luis, Jean, Rever, Bernard, Jo, Jadson, Cavalieri.
Spain: Casillas; Arbeloa, Pique, Sergio Ramos, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta; Pedro, Torres, Mata.
Subs: Valdes, Albiol, Javi Martinez, Azpilicueta, Villa, Fabregas, Soldado,
Monreal, Cazorla, Silva, Jesus Navas, Reina.

Brazil have deservedly won the Confederations Cup with a dominant performance against Spain in the final.

It was a scrappy early opener for Brazil. The cross in to Fred was missed by him and Neymar; in the ensuing melee, Fred tapped it it. Brazil started the game with a plan based on quick transitions from defence to attack along with pressing Spain hard and quick.

Oscar missed a good chance from inside the box in the 8th minute after good play from Neymar and Fred. Brazil did not allow Spain to get into their rythm, forcing them to uncharacteristically hack away the ball under pressure.

It was terrific pressure from Brazil, ridding Spain of possession; a snap shot from Paulinho almost caught Casillas off guard but he recovered well. Tempers flared in the 15th min with Neymar tried to run off the last defender Arbeloa, but fell theatrically as Arbeloa was yellow carded. Crowd pressure forced the ref to ignore quite a lot of instances of diving by the Brazilians. At the other end,Cesar had to save from Iniesta in the 20th minute, from Spain's first real chance; Torres headed wide from resulting corner.

 Brazil were not afraid to stick their foot in. Tackles were hard and their closing down stifled Spain greatly. 23rd min saw a speculative David Luiz-esque free kick from distance by Ramos, which was well off target.  Torres initially trying hard to create something for Spain but with little success; eventually faded out altogether. David Luiz and co got the job done in defence upto this point with minimum fuss.

An excellent counter saw Hulk feed Oscar who went down with Ramos in the vicinity; minimal contact there again! Hulk smashed it over and wide from the resulting free kick. Another counter from Brazil saw Neymar find Fred with a threaded pass, his shot parried by Casillas.

Spain were outmuscled and outpaced by Brazil, desperately searching for inspiration from the Barca pass masters in Xavi and Iniesta in midfield. Problem was Spain could hardly keep the ball and create something. A number of Spain set pieces were dealt with by Brazil with consummate ease.

It took a terrific goalline clearance by David Luiz to deny Pedro from inside the box after a excellent through ball from Juan Mata. That was Spain's first real chance of the half, in the 40th minute. But then Brazil with another lightning quick counter, playing around a little before Oscar found Neymar with a return pass, and the boy wonder smashed it into the roof of the net, giving Casillas no chance. 2-0 To the home team in the 43rd minute; it was a deserved lead. At half time, The Maracana erupted in joy; 2-0 against the World champions, things looking very rosy for Brazil. Spain struggling in defence and Busquets, Alba et al largely anonymous.

The Second half saw Alvaro Arbeloa rightly come off for Azpilicueta, given his bad performance on the day. But before Spain could realize what was happening, they were 3 down. A searching run from midfield by Paulinho found Fred after an intelligent dummy by Neymar, and the Fluminese frontman slotted home coolly into Casillas' left bottom corner.

The Brazilian full backs and midfielders continued closing down Spain. Del Bosque saw it fit to bring off Mata for Navas in the 51st minute, and the sub Navas won a penalty within a minute of his introduction with some quick feet, hacked down by Marcelo. Sergio Ramos was surprisingly the man to step up for the penalty. As many may have foreseen, the Real Madrid defender put the penalty wide. Spain effectively dug their own grave on that occasion.

Spain continued to probe; an excellent piece of skill saw Iniesta turn away from 2 yellow shirts, but his pass was quickly intercepted. That summed up Spain's match. Nothing went right for them. The ineffectual Torres was replaced by Villa as a last resort in the 57th minute. Del Bosque was effectively a spectator from this point on.

Navas continued his side's miserable evening with a wayward attempt in the 66th min. It got even worse in the 68th minute as a pacy run from the halfway line by Neymar following a long ball and a knockdown saw him brought down by Pique. The first straight red card of the Confed Cup saw Spain one man down, hoping the game would end then and there.

72nd minute saw the highly rated Jadson replace Hulk, suggesting it was little more than a procession from this point on. Yet, Scolari still unhappy with certain aspects of his team' play, wildly gesticulating on the touchline; it was no wonder Brazil worked their socks off, who would want to be on the end of that!


Big Phil decided to take Fred off former Man City striker Jo, allowing Fred to get the applause his performance deserved. But Cesar had to make a surprising stop from Pedro, and yet again Spain wasted the resulting setpiece. Hernanes was brought on for an increasingly comfortable looking Brazil; but not before Cesar made a classy save from a curler from Villa. Paulinho the man off, the last sub of the game. 2 minutes of stoppage time, with everybody who was. watching this game screaming for the ref to end it. And it did indeed end, with the Maracana cheering their team with gusto, after an outstanding performance from the home team. Spain did not turn up for this game, and the better team won, with panache. Is it the end of 5 years of world football dominance, or is it only a temporary blip?
-A B