Confederations Curtain Coming Down

They made it, Brazil are in the final. After a touchy and nervous semi final win over the impressive rivals Uruguay, the host nation are through to face world champions Spain, in what will be a footballing feast, capable of satisfying the biggest of appetites.
It's a marvelous fusion of footballing talent, two teams in great form, wanting and needing the tournament win, for different reasons.

Lets start with Brazil. A win in this tournament would completely turn around some of the negativity that surrounds them. Scolari has been under pressure, there is no question about that, we have seen the fans boo his decisions at this tournament. There is also a very real disbelief that Scolari is the man to deliver World Cup glory, for an expectant host nation. A win against Spain on Sunday would really give Scolari himself a welcome boost, as well as silence a few doubters. To his credit, Scolari has got Brazil playing some very good football at this tournament, with Neymar at the forefront of it. He has been dazzling at times, along with the impressive Fred, who has three goals in four games. Paulinho has also impressed me, he seems to be a rarity in midfielders these days. A friend recently pointed it out to me, that central midfielders are either attacking or defensive. There's such a lack of players who can do it all. Since the emergence of Claude Makelele there appears to have been a new breed of ''holding midfielders.'' Which in many cases means that they just can't go forward at all. And vice versa for the attacking midfielders, who seem to be incapable of putting a tackle in. Paulinho, from what I've seen, looks like he can do it all. A real top, complete midfielder, who will have to be on top of this game when he has Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta for company.

Paulinho seems to have impressed many this tournament

World Cup winners, double European Champions and debated as potentially the greatest ever international team. Spain, are looking to add the Confederations Cup to their unprecedented haul. I could write and virtually mirror every compliment every journalist and pundit has said about Spain. I just want to look at it in a different light for a moment. Look at their bench in the game against Italy. A Champions League winner this season in Javi Martinez, Spain's all time record goal scorer David Villa, one of the Catalonia darlings, Cesc Fabregas. Juan Mata, a member of the PFA Premier League Team of the Year, Jesus Navas, who has just fetched a reported transfer fee of £14.9m. The list goes on. To leave out players of that caliber, and not even bring them on in some cases (Fabregas didn't get on the pitch against Italy) makes it the strongest squad of players of all time. There can be no debate. Las Rojas are an unbelievable side, with so many strengths, I can only see them winning on Sunday, as much as they weren't at their best against the Italians. 

Also, I would like to point out how happy I am to see Fernando Torres top of the goal scoring charts, heading in to Sunday's final. He's two goals clear of his nearest rival left in the competition, David Villa. After all his stick since his move to Chelsea, he can (hopefully) say he top scored in the European Championships and the Confederations Cup for Spain, along with winning them both obviously. I raise a glass to you Fernando, for you're superb courage and persistence. 

The classic number nine, Fernando Torres