Four years ago I was sitting in a pub in Seville watching soon-to-be World Champions Spain getting knocked out of the Confederations Cup by the United States.
Bear in mind that this was a Spain team that was yet to win the World Cup and still had a hoodoo in that competition, even if they had shed their nearly men tag by winning Euro 2008.
Yet that 2 – 0 loss put some doubt into Spanish people’s minds as a three year undefeated run ended in ignominy.
While the frailties that had defined Spanish football for decades were causing a few headaches for Furia Roja fans, the USA would come close to winning the Confederations Cup, only for Brazil to thwart them in an exciting final by a 3 – 2 scoreline.
Of course this was the Confederations Cup and not a prestigious tournament. Spain would go on to win the World Cup, Brazil would self-destruct in the quarter-finals and the USA would fall to Ghana in the last-16.
That Confederations Cup tournament gives us a useful look at the upcoming World Cup hosts’ infrastructure and stadia like previous editions in Germany and Korea/Japan. And with Brazil’s much publicized issues, it is vital.
But for on-field matters it tells us very little about the true strength of the nations involved due to the vast talent gap between certain teams.
African and Asian champions do not measure up against European and South American continental holders except in one of these one-off Confederations Cup games that amount to little more than glorified friendlies.
Indeed none of the winners of the tournament has gone on to achieve much success in the next World Cup, with the exception of Brazil’s class of 97 which reached the following year’s World Cup final in Paris.
But the Brazilians have won the last two Confederations Cups, yet are undergoing a level of soul-searching that has seen them flop at the last two World Cups and question their own divinity.
Of course that does not make the Confederations Cup completely meaningless.
Hosts Brazil, World Cup holders Spain, Euro 2012 runners-up Italy and Copa America champions Uruguay have named what can be termed as their strongest squads with the exception of injuries.
Even if the likes of Vicente Del Bosque, Cesare Prandelli and Big Phil Scolari do not approach the tournament in a gung-ho manner (perhaps the latter will be forced to due to the crippling pressure from fans and the host media), it is a rare opportunity to gather their squads and get a run of games together.
Psychologically Brazil really need to win this tournament not so much for their own confidence but also to keep their fans quiet as the 2014 World Cup looms closer and closer. The last thing this Selecao squad wants is to be the successors to the oft-castigated home soil failures of 1950.
Spain have a relatively easy group with Nigeria and Uruguay to face. Oh, and Tahiti. I must confess that I have never heard or used the words football and Tahiti in the same sentence so their appearance should prove an interesting distraction.
The Spanish know their strengths and weaknesses and they might not experiment much, while Italy will hope to continue the progress and integration of young players they have made since their crushing failure at the last World Cup.
