The draw for next summer’s Confederations Cup was made in Sao Paulo today and it set up some interesting matches.
The Confederations Cup takes place in Brazil on 15-30 June 2013 when hosts Brazil line up in Group A with Japan, Mexico and Italy. While Spain, Uruguay and Tahiti will be joined in Group B by the champions of Africa, whose identity will be revealed after next February’s CAF Africa Cup of Nations final.
The first match for Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Brazil side will be against Japan on 15 June at Brasilia’s Estadio Nacional.
But that is just a warm-up to the Brazil and Italy clash. These two footballing powers met in epic epic World Cup encounters in 1970 and 1982.
Meanwhile in the other group, Spain and Uruguay, who both reached the sem-finals at South Africa 2010, will lock horns.
Six Brazilian cities will stage the tournament June 15-30 next year in a dress rehearsal for the World Cup in the same country the following year.
Capital city Brasilia will stage the Confederations Cup opener and Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium will host the final.
“We have the mission to win the Confederations Cup on the field, but we also have the obligation to be victorious off the field,” said Brazil President Dilma Rousseff in quotes reported on the FIFA website.
“We are preparing to organise an extraordinary Confederations Cup. We will show the world in 2013 that Brazil has all the conditions to host the 2014 World Cup, and that it will be the best organised and the most festive of all time.”
The Confederations Cup takes place about six weeks after the European season will have ended and it will be interesting to see what sort of teams Spain, Italy, Brazil and Uruguay put out.
Will they give most of their stars the summer to keep them fresh for the World Cup next summer or will FIFA force them to bring the stars to Brazil?
