Confederations Cup - Brazil win as Italy crash out

Eurosport - Mon, 22 Jun 14:31:00 2009

Brazil thumped World Cup holders Italy 3-0 in their final Confederations Cup group game in Pretoria as the Azzurri's interest in the tournament was dramatically brought to an end.

FOOTBALL 2009 Confederations Cup Brazil Luis Fabiano Robinho Kaka - 0

Luis Fabiano struck a brace for Brazil while Andrea Dossena added a third with an own-goal as the Selecao sealed their place in the semi-finals, where they will play hosts South Africa on Thursday.

But it was Italy's failure to reach the last four that will make the morning headlines.

Marcelo Lippi's side finished third in Group B, level on points with the US - and Egypt - but with an inferior number of goals scored, meaning they return home while Bob Bradley's side continue their pursuit of glory against Spain.

It proved to be a miserable evening for Fabio Cannavaro, whose appearance on the pitch equalled Paolo Maldini's record of 126 international cap.

It was far from a classic performance by the Juventus stopper - or any of his team-mates at the back for that matter.

The once-revered Italian defence looked shaky from the outset and a far cry from unflappable, assured version the footballing world got used to in Maldini's heyday.

Alarms bells were set ringing as early as the seventh minute when Ramires fired against the woodwork following good work by Fabiano, who went close himself with a glancing header just after the half-hour mark.

Lucio then saw a cross deflected onto the woodwork and was only denied a goal moments later by a sharp stop by Gigi Buffon - the only member of Italy's back five who emerged from the first half with any kind of credit.

But the feeling was that it was only a matter of time before Brazil took the lead. And so it proved, as three goals in eight minutes broke Italian spirits and effectively put the match beyond their reach.

Fabiano kicked off the goal glut, the Sevilla striker controlling Maicon's mis-hit shot on the edge of the penalty area before turning and finding the far corner in one swift movement.

His second came six minutes later when Kaka played a one-two with Robinho, the Manchester City man stepping over the return ball and allowing it to roll through to Fabiano, who competently slotted home at the far post.

Two minutes later and the Selecao found themselves three goals to the good as the unfortunate Dossena put past his own keeper, the Liverpool defender sliding in in a desperate bid to cut out Robinho's square pass as Brazil broke purposefully.

At the break, with Egypt losing by a single goal to the United States, Italy knew they were heading out of the tournament.

A response was needed and to their credit, Lippi's charges made a decent fist of things in the second half as Guiseppe Rossi, who had been brought on for the ineffective Vincenzo Iaquinta after 38 minutes, stepped up a gear and began to trouble the Brazil defence.

Three times in the space of three minutes, the Villarreal striker tested Julio Cesar, who until that point had enjoyed an extremely comfortable evening.

All three efforts came from distance and all three were struck with real venom but the Internazionale keeper proved himself equal to each shot.

As the situation changed in Rustenburg - the US scored another two, meaning they took pole position to qualify from the group - the Azzurri's predicament remained the same - score or go home.

A moment of madness from Julio Cesar nearly gifted them a goal, the keeper racing off his line only to be caught in no-man's land, but neither Daniele De Rossi nor substitute Simone Pepe could apply a finishing touch.

As Italy desperately poured forward in search of the goal that would see them through, they became increasingly susceptible to attack at the back.

Kaka nearly made them pay as he went close to increasing Brazil's advantage with a curler that took a slight deflection and drifted just wide of the post as time ran out.

In the end, Dunga's side had to settle for a 3-0 victory while Italy were left to reflect on their performances over the past week in South Africa - a period that has seen them lose two games and show little evidence of the form that made them the reigning world champions.

Eurosport

Comment 58 - 77 of 77

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. Brazil 4 life!!! We a gettin into our warm up later­ against SA. Its jst practice 4 us, i wish we could hav­ brought team c so that they could play SA,its a waste­ of our guys time nd energy here. C u at the final­ Spain.

    From western, on Wed 24 Jun 8:37AM

  2. This is not so popular series but I think it deserves­ to check at least for theW Cup 2010qualifieds. On this­ board some comenters must be already the q side.­ Congratulations!(sorry,England!Im also q side) in this­ series we can see south African original cheering­ styles with colourful hornes…,sorry,personally I­ imagined them cheering with rhythm instruments like­ some sort of drums…so its very­ impressive.　under the sounds maybe players­ on the pitch can hear nothing if supporters shout words­ like “f**k”!!!
    anyway,what happened Italy??? I little­ shocked to see terrible midfields… coz there winter­ cold??

    From veileeveiler, on Tue 23 Jun 10:34AM

  3. Go Brazil!!!

    The best one!

    From well_unicamp, on Tue 23 Jun 4:43AM

  4. I'M A ITALY FAN
    BUT I'M SO HAPPY FOR USA,­ BECAUSE I HOPE THAT FROM NOW THEY WILL LOVE FOOTBALL­ MORE!
    WELL DONE USA.
    GO ITALY

    From , on Mon 22 Jun 6:47PM

  5. Not my national side, but I am a Milan fan, so I will­ say this. Inzaghi proved over and over again this year­ that he knows how to put goals in the net. Italy played­ him in one game last world cup and he scored. And now­ he's home. I believe he wants to play for the side­ and he should be. Age is a number. The more appropriate­ number for Inzaghi is goals scored. 300. If he kept­ Pato on the bench at Milan for some games, he should­ have kept Toni at home at the buffet. They needed one­ or two goals. 10 offsides and 7 overly dramatic falls­ later, Italy would have had their goals and would be­ playing Spain in the semi finals. Forza Milan &­ Super Pippo. Thank you Lippi for putting the USA in the­ semi finals.

    From Maxx92, on Mon 22 Jun 4:33PM

  6. Everybody says that Its Spain, Can win Confe Cup this­ time.... Some said that Its Italy(ruined out at last),­ Now some says that its USA can lift it.. but My dear­ friends.... Its Brasil who can end all winning streak­ of Spainish Gunners... They have COLLEGE CLASSS PLAYER­ in confed cup.. still key players out of squad... like,­ Ronaldinho, Adriano, Ronaldo(still not leave­ International Football), Cicinho, Gilberto &­ others.... They are samba dancers with new faces in­ age.. they are just unstoppable as we have seen against­ Italy on 21st June..... I think Spain should prepare to­ stop them rather than attack & conceding more goals­ which ruined their chance to win Confe 2009......

    Best­ of luck..... SPAINISH............

    From Lucky, on Mon 22 Jun 3:11PM

  7. Luca Toni is rubbish Not the Manager

    From Aniello, on Mon 22 Jun 2:52PM

  8. Manager should stay wear he is!!! Luca Toni his @#$%!!!­ I think there will be alot of people would say the same­ thing bout Toni!!! He asto go When he came off last­ nyt Italy was a better team

    From Aniello, on Mon 22 Jun 2:49PM

  9. Italy needs to clean house at the back and midfiend,­ Gattuso, Cannavaro, Zambrotta, they are the old guard,­ they've done their job already. But I cannot ,for­ the life of me, understand why Luca Toni is still­ starting. That man shoots blanks... game after game...­ it's embarassing.

    From First L, on Mon 22 Jun 12:59PM

  10. Those who keep on underestimating team after team gets­ a spanking. Egypt beat Italy, now USA beat Egypt, no­ team is too unimportant. Same with Russia vs. Holland­ in the Euro08, then Turkey. I never bet on the favorite­ as football talent is narrowing across borders.

    From First L, on Mon 22 Jun 12:56PM

  11. USA-2009 Confererations Cup Champions

    From Shaka, on Mon 22 Jun 12:44PM

  12. I HOPE THAT USA WILL START TO LOVE FOOTBALL MORE!!
    ­ a country where football builds small talent in­ universities, not billions,focusing only on pure­ talent, on a system of simple game that everyone is­ able to learn because the teams do not have our­ technical or our organization. But even on a sporting­ level of education, standardized, that produces so much­ in basketball or football can work in football. Indeed­ yankee football is starting to offer good individuality­ It continues to progress, without spending what we­ spend.
    sorry for my bad english

    From , on Mon 22 Jun 11:56AM

  13. Egypt played with a weakened moral, though I want them­ in the semis. But I think USA played to win, and win­ they did. Viva USA!!!

    From koonlay, on Mon 22 Jun 11:27AM

  14. It's in the Samba and NOT the pasta....Viva Brazil­ !!! my top world cup team :)

    From Aliaa, on Mon 22 Jun 10:40AM

  15. I can't remember a good italy team to be fair, 3­ years ago they had a team with a solid back line, who­ were all in there prime, and yeah they did get some­ shocking reffering decisions for them, and i didn't­ think they were worthy winners, and time has moved on­ now, and there boring way of playing wont win u matches­ anymore, i'm english but love the way spain play,­ thats how football should be......entertaining.

    From terri-ann, on Mon 22 Jun 10:25AM

  16. oh EGYPT!

    From Segun, on Mon 22 Jun 10:25AM

  17. my top four

    SPAIN
    ENGLAND
    ECUADOR maybe , very strong­ team! i
    BRASIL
    ITALY you never know!!!

    From , on Mon 22 Jun 10:12AM

  18. X gregor scotsfiddler! you don't know nothing abut­ football! you can.t win a world cup just for lucky!!­ think about!!!

    soory for my bad eglish,

    From , on Mon 22 Jun 10:03AM

  19. Italians were outclassed. Lippi should bring some fresh­ blood in WC2010.My concern is in the middle field­ players, anyway the best team won at the end of the­ day. Shehata must have under estimated USA,so ,his­ side was punished badly.Hope to see Selecao &­ Espanyol in the finals.

    From tumo, on Mon 22 Jun 9:54AM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Great to see those Cheating Italians bite the­ dust...and were well shown up, hope this is the start­ of the fall of the "roman empire" they did­ not deserve to win the world cup, and cheated their way­ through that (the "penalty!!?" against­ Australia for example..) Spain now get a bye into the­ final which is a shame 'cos they had that already­ just look at the quality of opposition in their group?

    From gregor_scotsfiddler, on Mon 22 Jun 9:46AM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account