Confederations Cup 2009

The 2009 Confederations Cup starts on the 14th of June with South Africa hosting Iraq at Ellis Park in the city of Johannesburg.  The South African world cup organising committee will use the Confederations Cup as a dress rehearsal for the world cup a year from now to test out things such as the ticketing system, the various stadiums match day management and their ability to respond to any safety issues that may arise as well as the other things that will make South Africa 2010 run smoothly. 

The eight nations competing in the tournament will also be using the the Confederations Cup to achieve their various goals, however what these goals are will vary from country to country 

New Zealand

New Zealand finished top of the Oceania zone qualifying to progress to a play-off against the side who finish fifth in the Asian zone for a place at the World Cup.  New Zealand will be using the Confederations Cup to prepare for that vital tie.  The tournament will give the team at least three matches to work on their formation, tactics and set plays.  New Zealand have taken their strongest possible other then their usual captain centre-back Ryan Nelsen who is missing because of injury.  Of New Zealand's 23 men squad excluding Australia, nine members play outside of New Zealand.  Four of them play in the MLS, the other five play in various leagues across Europe.  Another nine members play in various teams across the A-league, seven of them at the one club Wellington Phoenix.  New Zealand have also included four players who play for non-professional clubs in the New Zealand Football Championship.  By being involved with the New Zealand squad at the Confederations Cup they will more easily able to fill in in the play-off if New Zealand suffer any injuries before the tie.    

Iraq

Iraq are playing in the Confederations Cup because of their win against the odds at the 2007 Asian Cup.  Since that success however things have not gone well for the Iraqi nation team.  They were eliminated in the third phase of the Asian zone qualifying finishing third in their group behind Australia and Qatar.  Since then friendly results for them have been poor.  Because Iraq are the current holders of the 2007 Asian Cup they have already qualified for the 2011 edition.  With only friendlies before the next Asian Cup starts, the Confederations Cup will provide some rare and valuable competitive matches for the Iraq team to play in.  The Iraqi players will also be trying to play well while the world is watching and try to gain interest from a European club and get a move to one.  At the moment 22 members in the Iraqi squad play in various clubs across the Middle East.  The only exception is winger Hawar Mulla Mohammed who currently plays for Cypriot club Anorthosis FC.

Egypt

At the moment having played two games in the final group stage of Africa zone qualifying Egypt is at the bottom of their four team group on 1 point.  Three points behind joint leaders Algeria and Zambia.  At the Confederations Cup Egypt are in group B with Brazil, Italy and Untied States.  Egypt will try to get a couple of good results in a tough group at the Confederations Cup, to gain some momentum and use this to reignite their campaign to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.        

South Africa

As hosts of the World Cup South Africa will have the benefit of a enthusiastic home crowd, however they could also face the problem of an expectant home crowd.  The Confederations Cup will give to the team a good opportunity to learn and work out ways how to deal with this. Also the Confederations Cup will give the South African team the chance to play against the best national side in the world at the moment Spain.

Untied States

In the Untied States 23 men squad for the Confederations Cup three players Jonathan Bornstein, Ricardo Clark and Sacha Kljestan have only ever played in the MLS.  The Confederations Cup is a chance for those players to gain experience playing against players who play at quality European clubs.  The afore mentioned players if they play well could also use the tournament to try to gain a move to a European club.     

Brazil  

With less then a year to the World Cup Brazil are on top in the South America qualifying zone.  After 14 matches Brazil have got 27 points and have almost qualified for South Africa 2010.  As usual Brazil have a strong squad however there appear to be a few weaknesses in certain positions.  Brazil have a lack of depth in the forward positions after first choice pairing Luis Fabiano and Robinho.  Brazilian coach Dunga has selected Milan youngster Alexandre Pato and Internacional striker Nilmar as the other forwards in the Brazilian Confederations Cup squad. A good performance from either or both of them would go a long way to them getting a spot in Brazil's world cup squad.  Brazil are also very thin on the left side of defence, Internacional left wing back Kleber has been starting there recently for Brazil.  Dunga has also included Corinthians left back Andre Santos in the squad and will use the Confederations Cup to have a look at him.  There are no other Brazilians making a strong claim to solve this problem area for the Brazilian national team.               

Italy     

Since winning their fourth World Cup in Germany, Italy had a disappointing European championship campaign,  getting knocked out by Spain in the quarter-finals.  Since then their World Cup qualifying campaign has been good but not up to their usual high standards and they were completely outplayed by Brazil in a friendly which they lost 2-0.  Italy will use the Confederations Cup to show their doubters that they will be a serious contender at the 2010 World Cup.  Italian manger Marcello Lippi has already stated he will be using the tournament to continue to build the Italian squad in preparation for South Africa 2010.     

Spain

One of the main things Spain are using the Confederations Cup for is to see if various players have the quality to be able to add depth and be part of the Spanish squad that will go to the 2010 World Cup.  If players like Raul Albiol, Pablo Hernandez, Sergi Busquets, Diego Lopez and Juan Manuel Mata impress at South Africa 2009 they will have dramatically increased their chances of being involved in South Africa 2010.