A-Z of the Confederations Cup
A is for Adriano. Back in 2005 the then 23-year-old
was one of the hottest strikers on the planet. His five
goals at the Confederations Cup that summer saw Brazil
lift the trophy and Adriano crowned winner of the
Golden Shoe (top goalscorer) and Golden Ball (best
player).
B is for Brazil. The 2013 tournament will be held in
Brazil and the Selecao will go in search of their fourth
Confederations Cup triumph having won the last two
editions of the competition in 2005 and 2009 as well as
the 1997 edition.
C is for Cafusa. The official match ball for the
tournament has been produced by Adidas and named
Cafusa. The title is a combination of the words carnival,
football and samba.
D is forDenilson.
Once the most
expensive player in
world football, the
Brazilian was
awarded the Golden
Ball at the 1997 Saudi
Arabia competition
to crown him the best
player on show.
E is for eight. The
tournament is contested by the winners of the six Fifa
confederation championships – Uefa, Conmebol,
Concacaf, CAF, AFC and OFC, as well as the host nation
and reigning World Cup-winners.*
F is for final. The 78,000-seater, refurbished
Maracana stadium will host the 2013 Confederations
Cup final.
G is for Golden Ball, Golden Shoe and Golden
Gloves. Those are the three individual awards up for
grabs for best player, top goalscorer and best goalkeeper
in action across the two weeks of football.
H is for hat-tricks. Vladimir Smicer, Ronaldo,
Romario, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Marzouk Al-Otaibi,
Ronaldinho, Luciano Figueroa and Fernando Torres are
the only eight men to have scored a Confederations Cup
hat-trick.
I is for Italy. The Azzurri have the chance to become
the third team after Argentina and France to win all
three major Fifa tournaments, having previously won
the World Cup and Olympic football competitions.
Uruguay & Spain can also achieve that feat with victory.
J is for Japan. The
Samurai Blue make
their fifth
Confederations Cup
appearance having
qualified as Asian
Cup champions.
They finished in
second place at the
2001 tournament .
K is for King Fahd
Cup. Saudi Arabia originally organised and competed
in the tournament, held in 1992 & 1995 and featuring
only a few continental champions, before Fifa took over
the competition and renamed it the Confederations
Cup .
L is for Luis Fabiano. The Sao Paulo striker was the
top goalscorer at the 2009 tournament and is one of
five Brazilians who make up the top 10 hitmen in
Confederations Cup history, alongside Alex, Romario,
Ronaldinho and Adriano.
M is for magical Mexicans. Famed for his
‘Cuauhtemina’ or ‘Blanco’ trick of hopping between two
players with the ball, Cuauhtemoc Blanco is tied with
Ronaldinho for most goals in a single tournament. He
scored nine times as Mexico lifted the trophy in 1999.
N is for Nielsen. Richard Moller Nielsen guided
Denmark to their first and only Confederations Cup
success back in 1995. They defeated Argentina 2-0 in
the final.
O is for OFC. The 2012 OFC Nations Cup was won by
Tahiti, meaning the small island become the first nation
other than Australia or New Zealand to represent
Oceania at the global tournament.
P is for part-time. Only one member of the Tahiti
squad, Panathanaikos striker Marama Vahirua, plays
outside of the Polynesian island. The rest ply their trade
as semi-professionals in the Tahiti First Division.
Q isfor qualified. Brazil, Japan, Mexico and Italy will
do battle in Group A for a place in the semi-finals, while
Spain, Uruguay, Tahiti and Nigeria will do the same in
Group B.
R is forfor record.
An average of 60,625
supporters watched
Confederations Cup
matches at the
Mexico 1999
tournament. That
total is a competition
record.
S is for six. The
tournament will be
contested at six venues in six different cities across
Brazil.
T is for technology. Goal-line technology will be used
in Brazil, with German company GoalControl GmbH the
official provider of 14 high-speed cameras – seven
behind each goal.
U is for Uruguay. Oscar Tabarez’s side are the second
South American team, along with hosts Brazil, to
qualify for the tournament as a result of their 2011 Copa
America success. They are yet to win the trophy in their
history.
V is for vuvuzela. The Brazilian version of the
headache-inducing instrument, known as the caxirola,
has been banned because of public safety concerns.
W is for winners. Brazil may well be hoping for a
glorious exit from the competition if omens are
anything to go by. On the three occasions they have
lifted the Confederations Cup (1997, 2005 and 2009),
the Selecao have gone on to finish runners-up, and
quarter-finalists twice at the World Cups staged the
following year.
X is for Xavier Samim. The 35-year-old Tahiti
goalkeeper will do battle with Mickael Roche to be first
choice for the tournament having usurped his younger
rival towards the end of the OFC Nations Cup.
Y is for Vicente Yanez. The Spaniard is believed to
be the first European explorer to have set foot on
Brazilian soil back in 1500. Fast forward to 2013 and
could Spain be the side to conquer the tournament in
South America?
Z is for Zagallo, Mario Zagallo. The now 81-year-old
Brazilian coach lifted the 1997 version of the
competition, having guided the Selecao to World Cup
final glory back in 1970.
*Italy qualified as Euro 2012 runners-up as Spain hold
the World Cup and European Championship crowns.

Nice write up!! Thumbs up.