Brazil vs Spain, dreamfinal of Confederation Cup, would be played at Maracana tonight.

            Historical Maracana is all set to welcome two current football giants of world football on its lap during the final frontier of Confederation cup would be played at 7-00pm Brazilian local time( IST Monday 3-30am) .

              It can be easily described as the battle between Latin America & Europe, battle between tiki-taka & samba.

               Regarding the current circumstances it’s going to be a dream final for all football lovers. Five times World Champion & the three times previous champions of the same tournament as well as current holders since last 2 editions of Confederation Cup, Brazil is going to take on the unstoppable current sensation of world football & the current world champion as well as back to back Euro champion in last two editions Spain. The only trophy remains to have in the Spanish locker since last 5 years, that is the Confederation Cup only.

               Spain is unbeaten in last 29 matches, they have not lost any match since their group league defeat against Switzerland on their opening match of World Cup 2010.

              Meanwhile Brazil remain unbeaten in their last 10 matches moreover they have not lost a single competitive match at their home since 1975.

             Brazil have won 4 out of 8 encounters between these two teams while Spain managed to win twice only & 2 of them finished as a draw.

              Both sides have kept their 100 winning record in this tournament so far. Brazil beat Japan, 3-0, in the opener, followed by a 2-0 victory over Mexico. They wrapped up the group stage with a 4-2 win over group runners-up Italy.

              While Spain won Group B with a 100-percent record against Uruguay (2-1), Tahiti (10-0) and Nigeria (3-0). Spain

then outclassed Italy in the semifinals, winning a penalty shootout, 7-6, after the match had finished in a goalless staelamate, following 90 minutes of regular time and 30 more of extra time. Jesus Navas converted the decisive penalty.

              It can be easily told that this is going to be the battle between the experienced Spanish side & the young guns of Brazil.

              Neither side is depending on an individual match winner both sides have loads of quality players who can guide their team to victory on their own excellence.

               It’s going to be the battle between two team’s midfield, which side will capture the midfield they have the probability to be the victorious at the end.

              Neymar is showing enough maturity in this tournament,  has already scored 3 goals in 4 appearance not only that he controlled the game according to it’s nature.

               Brazil have to defend the lightning midfield combination of Spanish midfield comprised of Xavi, Inniesta & Fabregass.

                Meanwhile this match has different significance in common Brazilian’s mind regarding their defeat against Uruguay in 1950 World Cup final at the same venue. Despite of winning the World Cup 1970 final, hammering Italy by 4-0 margin they think the redemption has not been done yet, this time they want to do the redemption by winning this continental crown in here.

                As a host nation Brazil will have vociferous crowd of almost 1.5 Lakh peoples inside the refurbished Maracana

backing themselves during the match which would be enough to boost their morals.

               Nevertheless, Spain’s journey to Sunday’s last game put them at a disadvantage. Spain played their semifinal in Fortaleza, in the north of the country, a 2220 km flight journey to Rio-de-Janeiro, where the final is scheduled while Brazil’s match against Uruguay was played in Belo Horizonte which is about a sixth of the distance away moreover they have played 24 hours earlier, giving the host a full day extra rest & recuperate. Spain had to go through the tie-breaker following 120 minutes hard battle, had to cover all the distances from the previous venue so it can be expected they would be a bit of tired prior to the final.

                Scolari has no injury worries and is likely to name an unchanged squad for the final. Fred will be the lone striker, with Neymar and Hulk providing support from the wings. Paulinho could well be the key once again, playing in from deep to pull Spain's centre-backs out of position.

               Vicente Del Bosque has a full strength squad too, after Barcelona's Cesc Fabregas and Valencia's Roberto Soldado reported fit for training. The champions may make a few changes though, after the physically draining semi-final against Italy. Fortunately, they have an incredibly strong bench and a

slight rotation will probably not affect them too much.

              Expect Casillas to retain his place in goal, with an unchanged back four. Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets are also favourites to start, which means the changes could come up front. David Silva started against Italy but was taken off after 53 minutes. Semi-final hero Navas could start in his place, to add speed from the outset, with Juan Mata an option as well. Torres will lead the attack.

Probable Line-Ups:

Brazil: Julio Cesar, Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Marcelo, Paulinho, Gustav, Hulk, Oscar, Neymar, Fred.

Spain: Iker Casillas,  Alvaro Arbeloa, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Jordi Alba; Xavi, Sergio Busquets, Cesc Fabregas, Jesus Navas, Iniesta, Torres.

                      Would it be the end of Spanish era, would it be Brazil, who will bounce back in World football in their usual dominative nature, the result will give us the answer.

SANDIP KARMAKAR_ONLINE FOOTBALL JOURNAL. FACEBOOK . TWITTER. LINKEDIN .

Spain won the second semifinal against Italy by 7-6 in shoot-out, fixed their date with Brazil in final of the Confederation Cup.

                 

                 Jesus Navas won the match for Spain, scoring the 7^th penalty just after Leonardo Bonucci’s miss in the shoot-out following a 120 minutes goalless stalemate in the second semifinal of the Confederation Cup at Fortlaeza lastnight, fixed their date with the host nation Brazil in the final of the tournament, would be played at refurbished historical Maracana on Sunday(IST 3-30AM Monday).

                  This is a quite hard fought victory for Spain, the Azzurris went neck-to-neck with the side who humiliated them 4-0 in last European Championship final. The performance is a

cause for renewed optimism amongst Italian supporters as much as anything.

                Spain, started like their usual way, were all over Italy from the opening minutes and nearly cracked the opponent in the 2nd minute after Pedro Rodriguez got free in space in the middle of the Italy box. The Barcelona forward's shot rolled just wide of the post, barely missing giving La Roja a dream start to the match.

                      As the match went down Italy started to back on their defensive & counter attack strategy, started to create their chances, denied by Casillas in the 37^th minute while Maggio headed the ball following a center from Giaccherini, found the safe hands of Spanish custodian only.

                  It could have been anybody’s game in the second half of the schedule time, both the sides had their chances, failed to

capitalise, we have seen some poor display of doing blunders in front of opponent goal which guided the match into the extra-time.

                     During extra-time Spain were denied in the 96th minute thanks to a fantastic reaction and block by De Rossi who prevented Pique from getting onto a loose ball in the six-yard box. Sergio Ramos had a chance on the ensuing corner, but couldn't get his header anywhere near the goal.

                    Juan Mata missed the net trying himself in the 108th minute instead of passing it to Arbeloa who was lurking unmarked to his right.

                    It’s raining missiles from Spanish armada inside the Azzuri box, in the 115^th Xavi tested the Italian custodian by a strong long ranger but was parried by Gianluigi Buffon and off

the post. The ball ricocheted right to Javi Martinez but his shot rolled wide at the far post.

                    Neither side failed to utilize the extra time which guided the match into the penalty shoot-out.

                    After a sixth successive penalties, Leonardo Bonucci for Italy succumbed in the 7^th while Jesus Navas scored the same & guided his team into the final, setup a dream final with Brazil while Italy will play with Uruguay for the third place spot.

                     During penalty shoot-out Xavi, Iniesta, Pique, Sergio Ramos, Jaun Mata, Busquets & Jesus Navas scored for Spain while Antonio Candreva, Alberto Aquilani, De Rossi, Giovinco, Andrea Pirlo & Montolivo scored for Italy.

                     It was also the battle between two current best goalkeepers in the World, Cassilas & Buffon both have shown some extra-ordinary display of goalkeeping show during 120 minutes, but none of them got rid of the ball during penalty shoot-out.

SANDIP KARMAKAR_ONLINE FOOTBALL JOURNAL. FACEBOOK . TWITTER. LINKEDIN .

Spain will renew their rivalry with Italy in the 2nd semifinal of Confederation Cup at Fortaleza tonight.

               Two European heavy weights will renew their rivalry while current World champion & Euro champion Spain will clash with their European counterpart & Euro finalist Italy at Fortaleza in the second semifinal of this year’s Confederation cup tonight.

               Previously these two sides met in the final of EURO 2012 where La-Roja-Furia humiliated Azzuris by a comprehensive 4-0 margin. In this month on 19^th June these same two sides clashed in the final of Uefa Under-21 European final where Spain proved themselves as the winner again, beating Italy U-21 by 4-1 margin.

               Vincente Des Boscue has concern over two of his first eleven key players in the likes of Solado & Fabregass, while Cesar Prandelli will also miss the service of  two AC Milan players due to injury concern.,  prolific striker Mario Balotelli

in their upfront & Ignazio Abate in the right-back position.

               Abate is expected by Napoli’s Christain Maggio while Balotelli is likely to be replaced by Bolgna forward Alberto Gilardino..

                Italy will be benefitted with the service of their midfield maestro Andre Pirlo who is standing in the fag-end of his career & has recovered from his calf injury, likely to start from the beginning.

                Spain reached in the semifinal stage beating all their opponents convincingly in their group matches while Italy have reached here after losing against Brazil by 2-4 margin.

                  This could well have been the battle between Spain’s tiki-taka formation with the famous composed defence of Italy but since the beginning of the tournament we have not seen such Italian defence which generally we are habituated to see.

                Italian coach Cease Prandelli is likely to start with

3-5-2 formation by which they managed to held the same Spanish side by 1 all margin in their first match of last year’s Uefa Cup.

                 While the Spanish armada will stick on their tiki-taka formation by which they have shown their ability to breach any kind of tough defence.

                Since last two years we have been watching the Spanish clubs have been terminating form the semis stage of any kind of premier European club competitions so they will try here to keep their dominance up again against another European giant.

                 These two sides have the long history of rivalry between them. Should mention here that Italy only managed to beat Spain once in their last 8 encounters. An overall of 27 games played between these two football giants, they both have won 8 ties while 11 of then finished as a draw.

Probable Line-Ups –

Spain: Casillas, Arbeloa, Ramos, Pique, Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta, Pedro, Torres, Silva.

Italy: Buffon, Barzagli, Chiellini, Bonucci, Maggio, Pirlo, Rossi, Giaccherini, Candreva, Montolivo, Gilardino.

SANDIP KARMAKAR_ONLINE FOOTBALL JOURNAL. FACEBOOK . TWITTER. LINKEDIN .

Brazil steps into the final of Confederation Cup, surpassing Uruguay by 2-1 margin in semifinal.

             

            Brazil steps into the final of Confederation cup in style, surpassing long term Latin American rival Uruguay by 2-1 margin in the semifinal played at Belo Horizonte lastnight courtesy a delayed winner scored by Paulinho in the 86^th minute of the game following Fred’s first for Brazil in the 41st minute while Cavani eqalised for Uruguay in the 48th minute of

the game. Diego Forlan, the national hero of Uruguay, standing in the fag end of his career, made a mess by missing a penalty from the spot on the 14^th minute of the game. This is Brazil’s third consecutive entry in succession in the final of the same tournament.

             Both sides struggled to find their fluency but Uruguay was muchmore interactive during the first quarter of the game, there was a needless tussle inside the box while David Luiz wrestled Diego Lugano down following a corner from the right side, the Chilean referee Osses pointed towards the spot. Diego Forlan himself went to take the spot kick which he fired low and hard to the keeper's left but Brazilian custodian Julio Cesar read his intention and pushed it behind the post.

               The game’s destiny might have exactly written right then, a player like Diego Forlan’s calibre, who remains a superhero in Latin American football since last decade, can miss from the spot, it’s hard to imagine even.

               Meanwhile after getting this lifeline Selecaos started to regroup themselves as Hulk barged his way through the Uruguay defence just before the half-hour mark, only to fire his

shot over the bar.

                However shoddy the work of Brazil's defenders, the quality of the forwards started to shine through as the game became feisty, with five yellow cards awarded by the Chilean referee within half hour mark.

               Brazil broke the deadlock in 41^st minute while Paulinho pushed a long ball from the behind over the top  and Neymar, amid slackness by Lugano, controlled it beautifully on his chest before bringing a good save from Muslera. But the rebound fell to Fred, who brilliantly banged it past the covering defenders and into the net!

              Uruguay had their chance just after this goal scored while Luiz Suarez made a blunder by shooting the ball wide from eight yards only.

               Cavani scored the equalizer for Uruguay in just third minute of the second half due to some poor defending by Brazilians inside the box, botching several attempted clearances before the ball broke to Cavani, who fired it inside the net.

                In 57^th minute Hulk forced a save from Uruguayan custodian Mulsera with a blockbusting freekick from 35 yards.

                In the later stage of the game Brazil have shown some acute urgency, they introduced local hero Bernado & Hernanes in the places of Hulk & Oscar respectively which actually worked for Luiz Philip Scholarie.

                Finally Uruguay's resistance is broken as Paulinho rises at the far post to head home Neymar's corner in the 86^th minute, the entire stadium  blasted with vociferous cheers.

            With this victory Brazil have managed to take a sweet revenge which they have been nourishing on their mind since their defeat of 1950 World Cup final against the same side.

                Now Brazil will meet the winner between two European giants Italy & Spain which would be decided at Fortaleza tonight.

SANDIP KARMAKAR_ONLINE FOOTBALL JOURNAL. FACEBOOK . TWITTER. LINKEDIN .