Fred scored two goals and Neymar added another as host
Brazil convincingly defeated world champion Spain 3-0 to win the
Confederations Cup on Sunday as protesters clashed with riot police
outside the Maracana Stadium.
Fred put Brazil on the
board less than two minutes into the match, Neymar added to the lead
just before half-time and Fred netted his fifth goal in five matches
early in the second half to give Brazil victory. The win for the host
nation was surprisingly easy against the current world champion.
Sergio Ramos missed a penalty kick for Spain in the 55th, sending his low shot wide.
Spain defender Gerard Pique was sent off with a straight red card for fouling Neymar in the 68th.
Brazil
came in hoping a victory would help it regain its status as a global
powerhouse after recent struggles.
Brazil was eliminated in the
quarterfinals in the last two World Cups and hadn’t won a significant
title since the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa.
“The champion is back,” chanted the crowd of more than 73,000 people at the renovated Maracana.
It
also didn’t take long before the fans in a sea of yellow jerseys
started teasing the Spaniards, chanting “Wanna play, wanna play!? Brazil
will teach you.”
The title gives Brazilian fans
hope that the five-time world champions have a chance to win the World
Cup title next year, although no Confederations Cup champion has ever
won football’s showcase event the following year.
“We
beat the world champions today, but we know that the tournament that we
will be playing next year will be a lot more difficult,” Brazil coach
Luiz Felipe Scolari said. “Now we have more confidence, that’s what we
needed.”
The Brazilian players huddled after the
final whistle and started singing and jumping, then went toward the
crowd near the sidelines and began celebrating. David Luiz kneeled down
and raised both of his hands into the air.
The
result ended Spain’s 26-match unbeaten streak. It hadn’t lost since a
1-0 result England in a friendly in London in 2011. Its last loss in an
official competition had happened 29 matches ago, in the 2010 World Cup
opener against Switzerland.
Spain badly wanted a
victory against the five-time world champion, which was one of the few
top teams it hadn’t faced since it began dominating international
football. Spain won the 2010 World Cup along with the 2008 and 2012
European Championships.
For Spain coach Vicente Del
Bosque, the defeat was comprehensive. “There’s not much to say, they
were superior on every way. They scored early. This is not an excuse but
they had pressure on us all the time.”
It was “a deserved defeat,” Del Bosque said.
It
was the first time the traditional football nations had met since a
scoreless friendly in 1999. The last competitive match between the teams
had been Brazil’s 1-0 win in the first round of the 1986 World Cup in
Mexico.
Brazil scored early on Sunday and kept
pressuring, but it didn’t take long for Spain to start taking control of
the match. The Europeans were not able to create many dangerous
opportunities, though, while Brazil kept threatening the most while
relying on counterattacks.
Fred opened the scoring
after a cross into the area by Hulk in the second minute. The ball
bounced off Neymar near the far post and Fred, who had fallen while
trying to reach for the cross, fired it in with his right foot while
still on the ground.
Brazil added to the lead with
Neymar’s fourth goal in five matches after an exchange of passes with
Oscar in the 44th. The newly signed Barcelona striker, touted as the
future of Brazilian football, fired a powerful left—footed shot into the
top of the net.
Neymar was voted the player of the tournament.
Neymar
and Daniel Alves took the time after the match to congratulate their
Barcelona teammates, who looked desolate across the field.
Fred
closed the scoring in the 47th from just inside the area, sending a low
shot to the far corner. Hulk started the move with a pass to Neymar,
but the striker let it go as Fred came running behind him.
Spain had the penalty kick after Marcelo fouled Jesus Navas inside the area, but Sergio Ramos sent his kick wide.
Spain’s
greatest chance before the penalty came with Pedro Rodriguez in the
41st, when he entered the area clear from defenders in a breakaway. His
low shot beat Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar, but David Luiz came rushing
in and slid in front of the goal line just in time to keep the ball
from going in.
Brazil won the its first
Confederations Cup title in Saudi Arabia in 1997, then again in Germany
in 2005 and in South Africa in 2009. Spain was trying to win the
tournament for the first time.
Brazil struggled
after Scolari returned to the national team earlier this year, winning
only one of its first six matches with him in command, but it has won
six in a row now.
The warm—up tournament, which
gives the home country a chance to test its preparations for the World
Cup, is played among continental champions plus the World Cup winner and
the hosts.
There were protests outside the stadium
during the match, with police using rubber bullets and tear gas to keep
demonstrators from getting too close. A wave of anti-government protests
has swept across Brazil in recent weeks, and many affected the
Confederations Cup host cities as demonstrators complained of the costs
of hosting the World Cup.
On the field, it was a
heated match from the start, with players from both teams pushing and
shoving each other a few times. Even the substitutes got into a shouting
match.