Confederations Cup 2013 - Brazil vs Japan

1st half

Brazil didn't waste any time scoring the first goal of their home tournament - FC Barcelona's newest addition Neymar scored the first goal of Confederations Cup after only three minutes. And what a goal that was! If some of you missed it here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AdeVmYfehw

Japan didn't manage to do much on the field. Keisuke Honda's free kicks seemed to be the only way Japan got the ball anywhere near Brazil's goal.



2nd half

The second half started as excitingly as the first one with Paulinho scoring the home team's second goal on the third minute of the second half.

Japan was as lost as they were on the first half and didn't really manage to create anything. On the (surprise surprise) third minute of the additional time Brazil scored their third and final goal of the evening. This time the goal was scored by Jo from young Oscar's amazing pass.

Japan was definitely a disappointment. They were definitely worse than expected and worse than, I believe, they really are. As the first team to qualify for the World Cup 2014 they clearly are a good team, but against Brazil they were nothing like what we've used to seeing. I hope they can do better in future games.

Despite the result I don't think that Brazil was the best version of themselves either. The finishing was obviously good, but as a team I think they can do better. At times the players looked a bit like hamsters with too much caffeine in their system. Of course it's natural that especially the young players want to show the world that they deserve a spot in the team in this tournament and especially in the World Cup squad. And I guess it's better to have a team with a little too much enthusiasm then a team that doesn't give a damn...

If I have to pick the best players from each team I would say that Brazil's Oscar worked really hard in the game - and was successful with what he did.
Keisuke Honda was, in my opinion, the best player in Japan's squad, mainly because he seemed to be the only one who managed to create anything at all.