May 30, 2012; Landover, MD, USA; Brazil forward Neymar (11) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal on a penalty kick against the USA in the first half at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The 2013 Confederations Cup final between host nation Brazil and world power Spain had the makings of a must-see, highly contested match. While the fans from Brazil came away happy, the game was far from competitive. Brazil came out with a furious pace that appeared to catch the Spanish side off guard. With no answer to the relentless Brazilian attack, Spain quickly watched their hopes of taking the Confederations Cup championship home fall out of their grasp.
When the final whistle was blown, Brazil took home the Confederations Cup title with a dominating 3-0 win.
Brazil got on to the board in the second minute with a cheeky goal by Fred.
With Fred and Spanish goaltender Iker Casillas on the ground inside the box, the Brazilian was able to chip the ball past Casillas. From there, it was all Brazil.
Brazil continued to challenge every pass with an overly aggressive attack that was leaving the Spain squad frustrated and with no answers. In the 44th minute, Spain found themselves in even more trouble after 21-year-old sensation Neymar was able to sneak a ball past Casillas in the top left corner.
Spain was hoping to use halftime to regroup, but the Brazilians continued their dominance in the second half, but it didn’t go as planned with a 47th minute goal by Fred.
An illegal challenge in the box gave Spain an opportunity to close the gap, but Brazilian keeper Júlio César came up huge and denied the goal.
With the Spanish side becoming more desperate by the minute, they were beginning to over commit and take chances on the backline. One of those risky challenges came in the 68th minute when Gerard Piqué went right at the legs of Neymar, who was breaking away, and as a result Piqué was shown a straight red.
Everything was going Brazil’s way in front of their home fans and they were able to close out their dominating performance for their third straight Confederations Cup title.
The Brazilian fans can now gear up for an exciting run in next summer’s World Cup in Rio with a very promising squad, while Spain needs to return home and search for the answers of what went wrong.