The Official Fifa Confederations Cup Thread

[NGAFOOTBALLKING]

Tunisia got and beat nigeria on pks. If they didnt win then Nigeria would be here not lame Tunisia.

 

[Internazionale]

Just because you lost to Australia......

That's not a reason behind it. I know Australia are much better than Indonesia. I don't give a sh!t if Indonesia could qualify for the WC.
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You should have known for what happened in the past in the Confed Cup.

 

[SB9Dragon]

Aside from the fact that this tournament rapes Inter of it's best players I must say I'm a little excited to see some National team action, especially Brazil.

 

[SuRFy]

And Australia !!!

 

[Internazionale]

ESPN Star Sports have exclusive live coverage on this tourney !

I'll probably see this one.

 

[SuRFy]

Kewell forced to pull out

Harry Kewell has been officially ruled out of the Australia squad for the FIFA Confederations Cup Germany 2005 after he underwent surgery to repair a torn groin muscle.
Kewell, who has been struggling for fitness over the past 12 months, was substituted after just 23 minutes of Liverpool’s UEFA Champions League final victory over AC Milan after aggravating the injury. The 26-year-old is expected to still be on the sidelines when Rafael Benitez’s squad return for pre-season training on Monday 27 June.

"Hopefully with the operation completed I can put all this injury business behind me,” said Kewell. “Wednesday night in Turkey was the highlight of my career and also the worst nightmare of my career, it's all mixed in two inside my head. Rafael Benitez showed a lot of faith in me by picking me from the start because he had other options. It was great for me until the injury. I stretched for a ball and my groin snapped. I couldn't do anything about it.

"Now it's not going to be a great summer with all the rehabilitation but it's been like that for the last six months. But if you'd said to me six months ago that I was going to pull my groin in the European Cup final and I would end up with a winner’s medal I'd have taken that.”

Australian team physio Les Gelis visited Kewell on Merseyside and is confident that the operation has solved his problems. "The surgery has been a success," he said. "People have underestimated how hard Harry worked just to be in a position to be able to play but it was just a matter of time until the tendon snapped.

"There was no way he could have played on. It's a problem that has been around for a year and the groin just kept getting tighter and tighter and then it had enough and snapped. He's had the surgery on Friday and it went well so now there is a six-week rehabilitation program to implement.

"Harry's disappointed that he is missing the Confederations Cup but he realises that it is more important that he gets his injuries fixed and has a strong pre-season. That way he can be a key part of Liverpool's team for next season and be in good shape for Australia's World Cup qualifiers."

Australia coach Frank Farina will name his squad for the FIFA Confederations Cup next week before the Socceroos’ final warm-up game against New Zealand at Craven Cottage on Thursday 9 June.

 

[SuRFy]

Confeds teams gear for Cup

The Confederations Cup promises to be much more than just a technical rehearsal for the World Cup, with Argentina and Brazil among the eight teams preparing for two weeks of pressure-free football in five venues across Germany.

For Germany, the 2006 World Cup host, getting the organisational details right will of course be the priority, as Frankfurt, Leipzig, Hanover, Nuremberg and Cologne prepare to stage a total of 16 matches from June 15 to 29.

The competition itself though will be a tough one to win and whoever does emerge as champions will have earned their accolade the hard way.

As well as featuring the German hosts and Brazil, the world champions, it is also a showcase for the talents of the champions of all of FIFA's six confederations plus Argentina, who enter as Olympic champions.

FIFA are billing the event as a "Festival of Champions" and that should sum up the mood of the event. The pressure may be off, but there is still serious work to be done.

Germany, drawn in Group A with Argentina, Australia and Tunisia, will also have a duty to get things right on the field, with the onus on coach Jurgen Klinsmann to show fans that a home triumph next year is possible.

For the rest of the teams there were will be little of the customary fear of failure, while a first prize of 2.28 million euro ($A3.64 million), as well as a world stage on which to perform, should provide an incentive.

Japan and Argentina can look forward to a particularly relaxing two weeks after booking places at the World Cup in this week's qualifiers.

Japan, who line up in Group B with Greece, Mexico and Brazil, secured a place in their third consecutive World Cup finals with a 2-0 win over North Korea on Wednesday.

Argentina made certain of their participation with a 3-1 win over world champions Brazil.

Brazil, the only country to have played at all 17 World Cups, are still pretty sure of maintaining their proud record, with only three points needed from their last three games to be mathematically sure of qualifying.

Brazil will arrive in Germany without Ronaldo, who has been excused on grounds of tiredness, but there remains the prospect of seeing World Player of the Year Ronaldinho teaming up with Adriano, Kaka and the heralded Robinho.

Greece, the surprise European champions, face a tougher job in qualifying for the World Cup after losing to Ukraine in midweek but their German coach Otto Rehhagel will enjoy being back on home ground.

Australia, who have not qualified for a World Cup since the finals were last in Germany in 1974, will also look to impress at a competition that has been kind to them in the past.

The Oceania representatives reached the 1997 final against Brazil - albeit in a match they lost 6-0 - then defeated both France and Brazil to finish third in 2001.

However the Socceroos will need to improve greatly on an unimpressive performance in London on Thursday when they struggled to beat old rivals New Zealand 1-0 in a fiercely-contested friendly.

Every team taking part will have one eye on the World Cup next year though the Confederations Cup will provide plenty of drama of its own.

It will hopefully be completed without a tragedy like the one that overshadowed the competition two years ago when Cameroonian Marc-Vivien Foe collapsed and died on the field during the second half of the semi-final against Colombia.

 

[Oz_Leeds_Fan]

Hehehe we are so damned screwed in this cup! :fool:
We manage to scrape a 1-0 win over New Zealand and we have Germany next up....
I watched the first 30mins and went to bed, we were all over them but couldnt finish to save ourselves. And whats worse, we let NEW ZEALAND get a number of attacks on the counter.
We need to tighten up by a factor of 10 if we are to avoid a cricket score against Germany at this rate.

I have confidence that our boyz will give their best but with no Kewell, Grella, Bresciano and an unfit Viduka we are going to be hit hard i fear...

 

[Axolote]

Inter will have their argentine players, they will play the Copa Italia and the they will go to the Confederations Cup...

Im very excited about this tourney becouse its like a mini-WC, and it will be a chance to see how a national team responds in this kind of tournament, group stage and then direct elimination...

Besides its always great to have the chance to face Brazil...

Some might think its crap becouse their teams were a disaster in their Continental Cups...Italy, Spain, England, Holland, Portugal, Nigeria, Cameroon...

Some european players are more worry in filming comercial$$ than training...

 

[RUSI]

I don't expect us to do very well in this tournament.

Brasil, imo, will win it. I don't like the team we are fielding.

I hope I am wrong though.



Argentina squad:

Goalkeepers: Leonardo Franco (Atletico Madrid, Spain), Wilfredo Caballero (Elche, Spain), German Lux (River Plate)

Defenders: Walter Samuel (Real Madrid, Spain), Javier Zanetti (Inter Milan, Italy), Gabriel Heinze (Manchester United, England), Gonzalo Rodriguez (Villarreal, Spain), Gabriel Milito (Real Zaragoza, Spain), Diego Placente (Bayern Leverkusen, Germany), Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo Coruna, Spain), Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich, Germany)

Midfielders: Juan Pablo Sorin (Villarreal, Spain), Esteban Cambiasso (Inter Milan, Italy), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal, Spain), Pablo Aimar (Valencia, Spain), Lucas Bernardi (Monaco, France)

Forwards: Carlos Tevez (Corinthians, Brazil), Javier Saviola (Monaco, France), Cesar Delgado (Cruz Azul, Mexico), Mario Santana (Palermo, Italy), Maximiliano Rodriguez (Espanyol, Spain), Luciano Figueroa (Villarreal, Spain), Luciano Galletti (Real Zaragoza, Spain)

 

[ottawaguy]

What is all this talk about how the tournament is useless and shouldn't be played? As a fan I think it's awesome to see teams like Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and others play against each other with their full strengh squads. It is obviously unfair to the players who have gone through a tough season, but I can't see why fans would be complaining.

 

[Chacarita Juniors]

What is all this talk about how the tournament is useless and shouldn't be played? As a fan I think it's awesome to see teams like Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and others play against each other with their full strengh squads. It is obviously unfair to the players who have gone through a tough season, but I can't see why fans would be complaining.

I agree, I don't understand all these "soccer fans" who don't like this tournament.

 

[Limberopoulos21]

I don't see greece winning their first game against Brazil, were missing Zagorakis (team duties), Dellas, Kapsis and karagounis (all 3 injuries)(the best players on the team).


edit Zagorakis has been offlaoded from Bologna duties with the relegation play-off, meaning he's back in. But Vryzas goes out due to injury. So we might be in for a chance actually.

 

[Chacarita Juniors]

Mexico's "Should-be" starting line-up...


GK- #1 SANCHEZ Oswaldo
RCB- #4 MARQUEZ Rafael
CB- #14 PINEDA Gonzalo
LCB- #3 SALCIDO Carlos
RWB- #18 CARMONA Salvador
LWB- #21 LOZANO Jaime
LCM- #22 PEREZ Luis
RCM- #8 PARDO Pavel
CAM- #7 ZINHA
CF- #17 FONSECA Francisco
ST- #9 BORGETTI Jared

Coach- Ricardo LAVOLPE

Who's gonna replace Bravo, Morales, Corona, and Medina? -beto,-stunna, -anybody

---------------Sanchez---------------
-----Marquez---Pineda---Salcido------
--Carmona-------------------Lozano--
-----------Pardo------Perez----------
--------------------Zinha-------------
---------Fonseca---------------------
----------------Borgetti---------------

 

[PSVFOREVER]

God, I hate this cup, who actually cares about this.

 

[::shinji::]

What is all this talk about how the tournament is useless and shouldn't be played? As a fan I think it's awesome to see teams like Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and others play against each other with their full strengh squads.

I agree..

For the amount of money these guys get paid to play a game, they should have to work 12 months out of the year like the rest of us.

 

[ForzaNerrazurri]

God, I hate this cup, who actually cares about this.

the teams that are participating?

I hope for my Nerazzurri boys to have a good tourney, especially Adriano, because he is missing our Coppa Italia final. Also for the Argentinians J. Zanetti, and Cambiasso

Limberopoulos21: According to Inter.it, Karagounis has joined up with the Greek squad, so maybe he will play

 

[$teauA]

EURO Winner: Greece
Gold Cup Winner: Mexico
Asian Cup Winner: Japan
Copa America Winner: Brazil
Copa America Runner-up: Argentina
Oceania Cup (?) Winner: Australia
African Nations Cup Winner: Tunisia
Host: Germany

If I remember correctly that's how it was at the last one as well, South America had the winner and the runner-up in and France was in it along with Italy or something like that right? Anyway I say Greece wins .............nah Germany or Brazil will win this, too bad no matches will be shown here in the States, this is a nice preparation for the WC next year.

 

[ForzaNerrazurri]

Sportsnet will be showing some games in Canada I think

 

[ottawaguy]

Sportsnet will be showing some games in Canada I think

Yep Sportsnet is showing all of the games, most of them live.


http://www2.sportsnet.ca/tvschedule/tvsked_sport.php?region=ONTARIO&schedule_id=7