Confederations Cup 2013

[BonnieShels]

Looking forward to the game now between Italy and Japan.

[Charlie Darwin]

I didn't think it would be as good as it has been. 2-0 Japan! First goal was never a penalty but what a finish from Kagawa.

[geysir]

That was a harsh penalty award for Italy.
Good refereeing to balance it all out so soon.

[BonnieShels]

3-3!!!

[BonnieShels]

This is a cracker. Stunning match.

[Charlie Darwin]

Japan's players are more technical than Italy's, surprisingly, but Italy still have the greater talent. Feel so bad for Japan.

[Charlie Darwin]

Best game so far and I completely wasn't expecting it.

[geysir]

That was a very enjoyable game.
The Brazilian crowd really get into it and make the atmosphere.

[Charlie Darwin]

The commentators (on BBC) mentioned during the first game that the biggest Japanese community outside Japan is in Brazil.

[osarusan]

Yeah, big numbers went there as farmers in the early 20th century. Around South America in general. The corrupt ex-president of Peru, Fujimori, was of Japanese ancestry.

Anyway, f**k Italy.

[Charlie Darwin]

It's funny, I never really thought of Japan as a country that would have a large emigrant population given their post-war economy, but then again it's such a big country. It will be good to have them in the World Cup anyway. It's frustrating that they're playing decent football but in Ireland we're still lagging behind with this caveman stuff.

[BonnieShels]

Honda is a cracking player. Some of his movement was brilliant.

That lone-run he had at one stage towards the end was deserving of a goal.

[Charlie Darwin]

Honda has been threatening to move to a top European time for years, since before the last World Cup. He seems to be available on a free now? He's similar to McGeady in that he has progressed there but probably needs to make a step up now or he never will.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Good game, except I fell asleep...

Very open and enjoyable. Here's to more of the same.

[osarusan]

It's frustrating that they're playing decent football but in Ireland we're still lagging behind with this caveman stuff.

There is a huge emphasis at all levels here on passing the ball. In J-League games, they tend to overdo it in my opinion. Perhaps I'm a caveman too, but there are times when the best thing to do is just hoof it. Especially when the alternative is trying to work your way out of defense with intricate passes, when the risks are high.

I know that in rugby here, the national coach Eddie Jones spends as much time visiting the league clubs as he does with the national team, and to a certain extent there is an understanding that, once the needs of the individual clubs have been met, the clubs will then think about how they can help the national side to benefit.

In the J-League, there is certainly a greater emphasis on passing across the league than there was even a decade ago but I don't know if this is the result of the JFA taking a similar approach with their league, or if it came about for other reasons.

[geysir]

The commentators (on BBC) mentioned during the first game that the biggest Japanese community outside Japan is in Brazil.
Sounded more like a case of the yellow clad locals getting behind Japan from the start, found out they were a damn good team, silenced when Italy went ahead, then roused into a frenzy when Japan went on the offensive. It was like a home game for Japan with the almost unanimous chants of 'Japan' after they equalised.

This is how I remember Japan from past tournaments, trying to play football in this way but not this effective. The one touch interplay was like watching Bilbao from last season. They're a good team to watch, even if they still look like a work in progress.

[Stuttgart88]

This is how I remember Japan from past tournaments, trying to play football in this way but not this effective. The one touch interplay was like watching Bilbao from last season. They're a good team to watch, even if they still look like a work in progress.Yes, and a bit like Mexico too. I've been impressed with Japan since 1998.

Kagawa's goal yesterday was quality and while I think both penalties were harsh, Italy's third(?) could have been penalised for handball and Japan were desperately unlucky not to score late on.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Yeah, total contrast to their first game v.Brazil when they seemed more than happy to be just rolled over.

[BonnieShels]

I was out tonight so I couldn't watch the TAH v ESP game. I was expecting something here?

[geysir]

Depends on what you mean by something.

Tonight's match was a bit of a letdown, apart from the goals. Nigeria were the architects of their own defeat, playing a strict 3 at the back with no right full back. Bizarre tactics by the coach to have Ambrose fixed 60m up the pitch, playing as an attacking wide midfielder, leaving an acre of space for Uruguay to exploit in behind.

[Charlie Darwin]

Was there some sort of argument between Cunningham and Sadlier?

[pineapple stu]

One of the more surreal matches I've ever seen. Watching Tahiti was like imagining yourself out there playing against Spain. The keeper's reaction to saving that free from Mata was class.

Yeah, they lost 10-0, but they've made it a memorable tournament.

[pineapple stu]

Didn't really see this (http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/international/2013/0621/457985-report-confederations-cup-could-be-abandoned/) coming.

I know there's protests and what have you, but you still don't expect a tournament to be abandoned because of it.

God knows what implications this would have for the World Cup next year.

I'd say this is a very high-stakes game of chicken. There's no way it'll get abandoned. Surely?

[Charlie Darwin]

Depends. If FIFA's pressure on Brazilian authorities results in them using brute force to suppress the protests, things could escalate very quickly.

[geysir]

I suppose it's only fitting, after the Velvet/Singing/Solidarity/Peaceful Revolutions, that the 'Football Revolution' takes place in Brazil.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Aye, old news?
http://foot.ie/threads/180676-Dissent-in-Brazil

[Stuttgart88]

Just thinking out loud - but is there any chance this could turn into the seismic event that finally removes Blatter and gives rise to proper reform of FIFA? If CD's scenario pans out and there is bloodshed around the staging of a football tournament then FIFA could lose any remaining popular legitimacy it can claim to have.

I actually enjoyed Ken Early's piece during the week about Blatter and football's ruling elite being the 1% versus the 99%, akin to the Occupy movement's central theme, and Blatter being some kind of Marie Antoinette figure.

Anyway, it's high time the ridiculous cost of these mega sports events is scrutinised in a time of austerity and with public finances at breaking point globally.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Would be good to think so but unlikely?
We might get rid of the dinosaur Bl*tter, but he'd only be replaced by another insipid fool like Platini.

As for outright change;wishful thinking I reckon. Corruption and ridiculous budgets seem endemic when related to these sorts of events.
Tbf, not just soccer, but the Olympics or anything else approaching this status.

[peadar1987]

Platini gets a bad rap, but I think that's mainly because of the English media and their paranoia and Francophobia, as they see him as being anti-English. He's a lot better-regarded outside of the Anglosphere.

[Stuttgart88]

Platini doesn't help himself though. Supporting Qatar's World Cup bid (and doesn't his son have strong Qatari connections?), refusal to accept any form of technology for goal line incidents, the goal line officials idea, and so on. That said, I'm fully behind the FFP initiative - in fact I'd like to see even more strict intervention - and I agree that the English perceive his stance as being simply an anti-England and EPL agenda. The truth is that he is even more hostile to Spain's model and I believe he is genuinely concerned that the financial situation in European football is unsustainable. I'd like to see UEFA pay more attention to smaller countries. In what form I'm not sure.

Edit: I just found this interview with Platini after googling "Michel Platini Qatar":

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/may/24/michel-platini-uefa-football

[Closed Account 2]

It will be interesting to see if Platini goes after PSG with his FFP project as they are probably the biggest potential offenders in terms of spending in excess of what they earn (although Monaco could now be eclipsing them).

I dont think the Confederation Cup demonstrations will be big enough to force a major change (or power struggle) at FIFA and, unless they dramatically increase next year, I cant see it being enough of an issue at WC 2014. I think Qatar in 2022 could well be a breaking point between Blatter and Platini. Platini is very much towing the Qatari line and insisting that it has to be held there and any winter world cup should be accommodated by the wider footballing world. Blatter has said that shifting Qatar 2022 to winter will have to be approved and a re-vote on the whole world cup will be necessary.

I think that the majority of big clubs and perhaps even the UEFA associations will side with Blatter on this. Within UEFA shifting to winter will have the most impact on PL clubs (who play quite a lot of games during this period) but even for Serie A, La Liga, French league and the Bundesliga, there will be the loss of the winter break and while the World Cup itself only lasts 4 weeks, when you take into account team preparation etc it can't easily be squeezed into the winter breaks of club leagues. I think it could be an issue in Latin America too, the Argentine League specifically the "Inicial" (or "Apertura" as it used to be called) runs from August to Februray. The Libertadores (Latin American CL) starts in late January, and the Copa Sudamericana (similar to the UEFA/Europa League) ends in mid December. A winter world cup, which seems to be Platini's latest pet-project, would involve wholesale changes to a lot of Latin American leagues and it's far from certain they would accomodate him. Platini stuck his oar in a few years ago when he suggested that the Copa America should not include Mexico or Costa Rica (or Japan and the US in some instances) and Mexican clubs shouldnt be included in the Libertadores. The federations objected to this (and questioned why someone at UEFA should be expressing such a vehement opinion on it) as it would have massive implications for both competitions in terms of competitiveness and sponsorship, and could damage Mexican and Latin American football. They will probably be loathed to accomodate Platini if it doesnt suit them.

Even UEFA national associations (FAs) will probably object to a Winter World Cup. If WC2022 is brought forward to Dec 21/Jan 22 it's hard to see how UEFA qualification could be completed. If you extrapolate WC2022 to Brazil 2014, shifting it forward in this way would mean the World Cup would be complete at near enough the end of calendar year 2013 (6 months from now), so qualification would have had to have been complete by August/September 2013 at the latest. How is it going to be possible to complete qualification 13-14 months after a Euros (using our example Euro 2012)? Maybe they will suggest combining Euro 2020 qualification with WC 2022 qualification (as they did with the ACN in 2010) but there are issues with numbers (24 qualify for the 2020 Euros (there are no hosts) and 13 will probably qualify for the WC), and it's hard to see how national associations will want to miss out on a whole series of lucrative WC qualification games. If they shift WC2022 back six months (to Dec 22/Jan 2013) again it will impact qualification for Euro 2024.

There is also the side issue of a winter World Cup clashing with FIFA's World Club Cup. When you look at the mess surrounding Qatar 2022, a mess which is entirely FIFA's own creation, it has much more of a potential to damage the FIFA hierarchy than the Brazilian riots - which they are likely to give lip-service to and explain away as "not involving FIFA" or "a domestic Brazilian governmental issue" etc.

[geysir]

This is an interesting recent (full transcript) interview with Platini,
Martin Samuel meets Michel Platini (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2329745/Martin-Samuel-meets-Michel-Platini--read-FULL-transcript-interview-UEFA-president.html).
Some credit is due to Platini for doing the interview with a 'hostile' journalist.

This is tread spillage though, isn't it?

[ArdeeBhoy]

Platini's still a dick though. See his input into the fallout from a certain game three-and-a-half years ago.
For all the good it did his country...

[geysir]

Platini's still a dick though. See his input into the fallout from a certain game three-and-a-half years ago.
For all the good it did his country...I can't remember what Platini's input was or how it makes him a dick. He claimed at the time that an extra official would, with a degree of certainty, have spotted the hand ball and in that article, Platini explains that the role of his 'extra official behind the goal' has been reduced to that of a statue by Fifa.

[Charlie Darwin]

Julio Cesar saves an early penalty against Uruguay... interesting.

[geysir]

It was an interesting game. Unfortunately Brazil are blighted by the the simulation disease and have one brainless centre half in Luiz. I thought Cavani had a superb game, worth 2 players, a quality defender and a quality attacker.

[DeLorean]

I don't think I've ever seen a tournament so predictable, results wise. If everybody filled out one of those tournament predictions sheets I'd say most would have been spot on up until this point. Mexico Japan was possibly the only game where there wasn't a definite favourite but I'd say most would have still went with Mexico. There hasn't even been a draw yet. I hope the predictability continues tonight and we get our Brazil-Spain final.

[Closed Account 2]

Julio Cesar saves an early penalty against Uruguay... interesting.

Thought he had a very good game, and has been on of Brazil's best players throughout the tournament.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Not even Brazil 4 Italy 2?

[DeLorean]

Not even Brazil 4 Italy 2?

I think most would have fancied Brazil to win at home, maybe not 4-2 but I wasn't really talking about scorelines a such, just outcomes.

[geysir]

Forlan's corner kick deliveries were outstanding last night.

[Zizou]

Spain to beat Italy tonight, 2-1.

FINAL

Brazil 0-3 Spain

[BonnieShels]

Hopefully Italy upset the apple cart tonight. And then beat Brazil. Yes. That's a spicy meatball.

[Charlie Darwin]

Forlan's corner kick deliveries were outstanding last night.
Except for when they were terrible.

[BonnieShels]

Heh, they only come out at night, or in this case the daytime...

[IsMiseSean]

Can anyone tell me what will be the Irish kick off times next year? Confed Cup games have been 8pm & 11pm
Normally there is 3 games a day in the WC. I'm too lazy to work it out...

[BonnieShels]

Can anyone tell me what will be the Irish kick off times next year? Confed Cup games have been 8pm & 11pm
Normally there is 3 games a day in the WC. I'm too lazy to work it out...

https://www.google.ie/#sclient=psy-ab&q=world+cup+kick+off+times+gmt&oq=world+cup+kick+off+t&gs_l=hp.3.3.0l4.2493034.2497631.0.2499736.20.11.0. 9.9.0.142.1027.8j3.11.0...0.0...1c.1.18.psy-ab.eE14fRU9YyY&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48340889,d.ZG4&fp=2d75c4536e3d56ed&biw=1280&bih=927

[Charlie Darwin]

From what I can make out, it'll be 5pm, 8pm, 11pm and the latest ones at 2am. I like football in the wee hours :)

[BonnieShels]

From what I can make out, it'll be 5pm, 8pm, 11pm and the latest ones at 2am. I like football in the wee hours :)

Whilst I like World Cups in Europe in one sense, There's nothing like football at awkward times to give a sense of occasion.

[Charlie Darwin]

Whilst I like World Cups in Europe in one sense, There's nothing like football at awkward times to give a sense of occasion.
Definitely. I was a shade too young to fully understand Italia '90 so USA '94 was my big introduction to the World Cup and I loved being able to stay up after midnight. I remember watching Argentina - Nigeria or something in my granny's house.