Confederations Round Up: Day 1

Kickoff:

South Africa 0- 0 Iraq

Pure frustration to watch as both teams battled it out in a not-so- spectacular opening game. Iraq managed to obtain their first ever Confederations Cup point but failed to deliver the goods. The game will undoubtedly be remembered for Parker preventing the ball from going in his own goal as he unintentionally shattered the dreams of his whole nation.

New Zealand 0-5 Spain

Two words... WORLD CLASS. That is how you can describe Spain's display against New Zealand on Sunday. Yes, one can say the All Whites are not exactly a cut-above-the-rest but they deserve some respect after all they did win the Oceanic Cup.
Spain out played them in every respect and when you find your leading man scoring a hatric in the first 17 minutes of a game you know this team is worth that number one ranking they so proudly occupy.

Egypt 3-4 Brazil

Did the Egyptians cause a scare or what for the Brazilians? By far the better Africa team out of the two, these boys caused a stir as they shook Brazil to come from 3-1 behind to get a 3-3 draw. It was only cancelled out by a Kaka penalty after the Pharaoh's man was sent off for handling the ball on the line.
They played Brazil's game against them and the Selecao looked confused and fatigued at times as the game drew to a close. Some say the USA are the underdogs, I say look out for Egypt!

USA 1-3 Italy

For the World Cup winners this should have been a walk through, the score line suggests it the game says another thing. The first half the USA dominated play and caused many problems for the Azzurri as they failed to grab hold of their few chances. It was the controversial sending off that could have provided Italy with that extra adrenalin in the second half or the colossal presence of the tiny Guiseppe Rossi that did the trick, but the second half had another story.
The Azzurri came from 1-0 behind to win 3-1 with two goals from Rossi. Rumours are suggesting he is the next Paolo Rossi, could it be so? Sure looks like it!