While many football fans are left in boredom owing to the
club break which will be till sometime in August, the confederations cup gives
us something to chew in the interim. It offers us the best of football from the
best football nations, hence, the nickname, festival of champions. True its name;
it is a tournament comprising the seven continental champions and the coming
world cup host – this time, Brazil. So you could see it as a dress rehearsal
for the world cup. This does not in any way take the shine off the tournament
as nations scramble to win it. This year is not different as 2014 world cup
host, Brazil host the champions across six cities. Since its inception 21 years
ago, there have been five winners in eight tournaments. They are Argentina in
1992, Denmark in 1995, Brazil in 1997, Mexico in 1999, France in 2001, France
in 2003, and Brazil in 2005 as well as 2009.
This time, Nigeria, Spain, Italy, Tahiti, Uruguay and Japan
would be aiming to clinch the title for the first time while Mexico and host-nation,
Brazil would be seeking their second and fourth respectively. Each of these
eight nations has lots of questions to answer on the football pitch if they are
to realize their dream. In group A, we have Brazil, Italy, Mexico and Japan and
in group B, Nigeria, Spain, Uruguay and Tahiti. Now let’s do an exposition on
each of them.
