The Confederations Cup

The somewhat reviled FIFA Confederations Cup starts this weekend at Ellis (Coca-Cola) Park in Johannesburg when the hosts, South Africa take on Iraq in the opening match.

In recent years the tournament has been labeled a waste of time in an already crowded calender by many people, including myself. Indeed this year the United States is unlikely to send a full side as the team is mandated by CONCACAF to send an "A" selection to the regional championship, the Gold Cup, which starts on July 4th.

What the Confederations Cup does do is give South Africa, who are taking a major step in hosting the World Cup next year, a chance to work out any kinks before the curtain raises on the big show next year. Recently a group of South African tourism ambassadors offered American bloggers (sadly, not this one) an all-expenses paid trip to cover the Confederations Cup. This was done in hopes that the bloggers would expose their fellow Americans to South Africa, and hopefully encourage Americans to spend tourism dollars in the Republic. An innocent move which has somehow attracted the ire of those guardians of traditional media in America, as the excellent Tom Dunmore wrote about at Pitch Invasion.

Controversy aside, there is a lot of football to be played this month, and South Africa is eager to show off their progress to the football world both on and off the pitch, but lately Bafana Bafana have left a lot to be desired, leaving the stadiums and hospitality as the likely saviors of South Africa's showcase.

Group A sees the hosts given a somewhat favorable draw as they face European giants Spain, Asian champions Iraq, and Oceanian minnows New Zealand. Obviously Spain will move on from this group, they simply have too much firepower for their relatively weak opponents, but the chase for the qualifying spot could be very fun to watch. Despite their struggles and shortcomings, South Africa will feed off the energy of their supporters and play above their level which may see them spring a surprise on an Iraq team that has disappointed since winning the Asian Cup in 2007. New Zealand are no doubts seen as the whipping boys of this cup having come from the OFC micro-confederation, but they do have some players in Europe and a team in the improving A-League.

Group B is where the action will be. It features two excellent sides in Italy and Brazil, along with two wild cards in Egypt and the USA. Though it seems a foregone conclusion that the former two will advance, don't be so sure. The Americans are surprisingly strong against Italy and have produced some decent results against Brazil. Egypt also pack explosive attacking power in Al-Ahly maestro Mohamed Aboutrika. With that said, the Americans are struggling recently and need to improve quickly to avoid getting embarrassed.

Overall I believe Brazil will prove too strong for everyone and win the Confederations Cup. While Italy and Spain are sending strong teams, Europeans traditionally don't take it as seriously as South Americans and that could prove a tipping point.