For the uninitiated, this is the regional tournament (think Euros, Copa America, Africa Cup of Nations etc) for CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football). The USA is hosting, as usual (since the CONCACAF Championship became the Gold Cup in 1991, the USA has either hosted or co-hosted every edition).

The 2009 Gold Cup teams, schedule and TV listings are after the jump…

It’s twelve teams split into three groups of four:

Group A:
Canada
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Jamaica

Group B:
Grenada
Haiti
Honduras
United States

Group C:
Guadeloupe
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama

After that it’s quarter-finals, leading to the obvious question: How do you get eight quarterfinalists from three groups?

Here’s how:

The top two teams from each of the three groups and two wildcards, the
two third-place teams with the most points, shall qualify for the
Quarterfinals.

At the end of group play, if two or more teams are equal on points
(including ties among third place teams), the manner in which teams will
advance to the next round will be resolved as follows and in the order
indicated:
a. Greater number of points in matches between the tied teams.
b. Greater Goal Difference in matches between the tied teams (if
more than two teams finish equal on points).
c. Greater number of goals scored in matches among the tied teams
(if more than two teams finish equal on points).
d. Greater Goal Difference in all group matches.
e. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches.
f. Drawing of lots.

Source: CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009 regulations pdf

The USA games are all on Fox Soccer Channel in the United States, with other games on Spanish language channels Univision, Galavision or Telefutura. Here’s the schedule and TV listings taken from USSoccer.com:

If you’re in Canada, then Rogers Sportsnet will be broadcasting all of Canada’s games.

So, who’s looking good? Well, the US initially named a weakened 23 man roster that looked a lot like Freddy Adu’s last chance to do something at international level this year. But due to their Confederations Cup involvement they’ve been allowed to add seven Confed Cup players (including Jozy Altidore) to make a 30-man megaroster. USA WCB has the final USA 2009 Gold Cup roster.

Mexico have named a semi-strong roster (Mexico WCB has it here) featuring Carlos Vela and Gio dos Santos. Javier Aguirre will be keen to restore some Mexican pride after all that Sven business, and I think it’s fair toc all US and Mexico joint favourites here.

Costa Rica have to be third favourites given their recent form, and that impressive win vs the USA at home in World Cup qualifying. Honduras should be capable of making challenge too, and you can see their roster on Honduras WCB.

Canada (the only nation outside of US and Mexico to have won this thing since 1991) have gone with some fresh faces, so Mike at Canada WCB is providing squad bios for their complete roster.

Complete 2009 Gold Cup squads/rosters can be found on Wikipedia. Team profiles on the official Gold Cup website.

Or maybe FIFA’s rankings are just rubbish.

[Link]

There was a familiar site on display after Sunday’s Confederation Cup Final (above). Not just Brazil lifting another trophy, but Kaka’s famous “I Belong to Jesus” t-shirt, which he apparently got back from the dry cleaners just in time to wear for the final. Several of Kaka’s teammates also wore Jesus themed t-shirts, and the team got down on its knees to celebrate together in prayer, which you can see at the end of the video above.

No harm in that, right? Well, depends who you ask…

I’m sure most people, like me, thought nothing of it. If Brazilian players want to wear t-shirts about Jesus and all kneel down together, then it’s none of my business.

But Denmark Football Federation Secretary-General Jim Stjerne Hansen has pointed out that religious displays contravene one of FIFA’s laws.

Here’s FIFA Law 4, Decision 1:

Players must not reveal undergarments showing slogans or advertising. The
basic compulsory equipment must not have any political, religious or personal
statements.
A player removing his jersey or shirt to reveal slogans or advertising will be
sanctioned by the competition organiser. The team of a player whose basic
compulsory equipment has political, religious or personal slogans or statements
will be sanctioned by the competition organiser or by FIFA.

[from page 20 of the 2009/10 FIFA Laws of the Game (released today!)]

And here’s what Jim Stjerne Hansen had to say yesterday:

“Personally I do not think that sport and religion should be mixed to such a degree that we more or less see a manifestation of a religious stance,” says Hansen.

“Just as we reject political manifestations, we should also say no to religious ones. There are too many risks involved in clubs, for example, with people of different religious faiths,” he says.

Obviously FIFA hasn’t cracked down on the Brazil team, because that definitely would have made the newspapers. In some ways this is tricky stuff, and so FIFA appears to be tuning a blind eye.

But mostly it’s just common sense. If a team wins a trophy, and wants to celebrate by holding hands and kneeling in a circle, then that’s up to them. They’re not mocking any other religion or pushing their beliefs on anyone else. And if Brazilian players want to wear t-shirts saying “I Belong to Jesus” and “I Love Jesus” then that’s up to them too. It’s a personal message. If the message was “You Belong to Jesus” or “You Should Belong to Jesus”, then we’d have a problem. But it’s not, so we don’t.

But it’s going downhill quickly and it might take World Cup 2010 with it.

South Africa’s biggest union said on Tuesday 50,000 construction workers would launch a strike over pay from next Wednesday, halting work across the economy including on stadiums for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

“A strike action is set to begin on July 8,” Lesiba Seshoka, the NUM’s spokesman said.

“Its not just the World Cup stadia that will be affected, we are talking about power stations, hospitals, roads and the like. It will last until they (the employers) come to their senses and offer a 13 percent wage increase for one year.”

Obviously World Cup 2010 is the least of their worries in these cases, but given the expected boost to South Africa’s economy as well as the country not just representing itself, but also the continent of Africa, this could be a major loss.

As it stands, 5 stadiums have yet to be completed and, presumably, countless other details - both big and small - must be taken care of before the World Cup. It’s not as though they were going to finish these things in September and twiddle their thumbs while they await the cavalries next summer. Much like any decent host, they’ll need every moment possible to perfect, assess, perfect, reassess and perfect again.

This couldn’t possibly be worse timing after all the good done over the last few weeks, and it certainly seems South Africa 2010 is going to prove just as difficult as expected.

Last year was a rough one for Germany. They lost the final to Spain on a Phil Lahm faux pas and then proceeded to send German family counselors scattering abroad for fear of being roped into aiding the crumbling Mannschaft. (Remember that ridiculous meeting to clear the air between Captain Ballack & Jogi Lowe at an airstrip which was all cheesy James Bond? Exactly.) The big boy squad also lost a friendly to England which I’m sure they’d love back, as that was back when England was England, not Fabio Capello’s England. Not quite humiliating, but far from thrilling.

So the U-21’s took revenge for the senior team against both yesterday. They won a European final - the Under-21 variety, their first ever - by thrashing England 4-0 (aided by some awful keeping) in a game which doesn’t quite make up for last summer, but is quite a nice consolation prize.

1. Cold weather = High tempo
June in South Africa is pretty cold. The heat and humidity that usually slows down summer tournaments was absent. A few players had to wear gloves and Dani Alves wrapped half a bear around his neck. But the huge upside was the high tempo of the games, which wouldn’t be possible in other countries at this time of year. If that doesn’t get you excited for World Cup 2010 then I can’t help you.

2. The Confederations Cup is a legit tournament
Chris and myself have disagreed about this, and still do. He sees the Confed Cup as barely a notch above a friendly, I see it as pretty close to the real deal. The truth is probably somewhere inbetween. But because I’m writing this post, I’m going to point to the way Brazil celebrated winning this tournament.

3. Attendances will be fine
Mistakes were made and some seats went unfilled. Mostly because the cheapest ticket was three times the cost of a South African Premier Soccer League game and because no one really wanted to see Iraq vs New Zealand. But the good news is that average attendances were around 36 to 37,000 and that’s without the invasion of foreign fans that will happen next summer.

4. Spain are not unbeatable
La Furia Roja are still an excellent football team. But - as the USA proved - they can be beaten. This makes World Cup 2010 that little bit more open.

5. South Africa aren’t half bad
OK, so Group A was easy. But Bafana Bafana got out of it and gave Brazil a scare in the semis. The fears about the 2010 host nation being incapable of competing can be put aside for now.

6. Luis Fabiano is the real deal
Those who only know the big names might not have recognized the Seville striker. Not everyone who wears the Seleção #9 can be as famous as Ronaldo. But Luis Fabiano led the line more or less solo and still finished the tournament as top scorer with five goals.

7. USA are better than most people thought (including themselves)
It started badly, but at least two countries - Spain and Brazil - will be a little more wary of the United States in future. And the performances of Landon Donovan and Oguchi Onyewu could yet secure them moves tho big European teams (with all due respect to Standard Liege).

8. New Zealand are not, and Oceania’s got to go
Hate to say it, but the presence of Oceania seriously dilutes the standard of both the Confederations Cup and the Club World Cup. Time for Oceania to be absorbed by Asia I think.

9. Italy need to click refresh
You can’t take your 2006 players to a 2009 tournament and expect to win. Young Beppe Rossi proved that the Azzurri have young talent that’s ready to play. Marcello Lippi needs to let that happen.

10. Four syllables: Vu - vu - ze - la
Whether you wish death to the vuvuzela or have learned to live with them, the air horns will be a huge part of the World Cup next summer. But here’s hoping we don’t spend the next twelve months talking about how they sound like a swarm of bees etcetera. Because the only thing more annoying than the sound of the vuvuzela, is the sound of someone complaining about it.

Brazil got the big trophy yesterday, but there were plenty of smaller ones handed out too. There were Gold, Silver and Bronze Balls for individual players, Gold, Silver and Bronze shoes for goalscorers and a solitary Golden Glove to the best keeper.

For the Golden Ball (donated by David Beckham?) FIFA’s Technical Study Group drew up a shortlist of ten players before the third place playoff and final:

Clint Dempsey (USA)
Landon Donovan (USA)
Kaka (Brazil)
Luis Fabiano (Brazil)
Bernard Parker (South Africa)
Steven Pienaar (South Africa)
Robinho (Brazil)
Fernando Torres (Spain)
David Villa (Spain)
Xavi Hernandez (Spain)

(Because apparently the shortlist couldn’t wait until after the tournament was actually completed)

Members of the FIFA accredited media were each asked to pick a top three from that list, and then the points were tallied to come up with:

Golden Ball: Kaka
Silver Ball: Luis Fabiano
Bronze Ball: Clint Dempsey

Not sure I’m 100% on board with that. Kaka was excellent in the final (especially the second half) but probably wouldn’t claim to have had an outstanding tournament. Luis Fabiano has led the line solo for Brazil and finished as top scorer (including two massive goals in the final - the first of which was a gem). So maybe he deserved it more.

And Clint Dempsey as the third best player at the tournament? Sure he’s scored three goals, and got better as the tourney progressed. But for the first two and a half games he was worthless, and many US fans were calling for him to be benched. Who came in fourth? DaMarcus Beasley?

I’m also more than a little unhappy with how the precious metal shoes for top scorers were distributed.

Golden Shoe: Luis Fabiano - 5 goals
Silver Shoe: Fernando Torres - 3 goals
Bronze Shoe: David Villa - 3 goals

Clint Dempsey also got three goals. But apparently his bronze ball disqualifies him. And why does Torres get silver and Villa bronze? Torres scored all his goals against New Zealand. The summer 2008 version of Mario Gomez could have done that (maybe),

Last but not least…

Golden Glove: Tim Howard

No argument there, the man was incredible against both Spain and Brazil. But respect to Egypt’s Essam Al Hadary for his performance against Italy.

A few extra awards from WCB:

Most headed clearances: Oguchi Onyewu. If this tournament doesn’t earn him a move from Standard Liege to the Premier League then nothing will.

Best performance by someone playing out of position: Dani Alves. With the score at 0-0, the attacking rightback came on at lefback, and thundered home a late free-kick to send Brazil to the final.

Costliest error: Andrea Dossena, for the own goal vs Brazil which was ultimately what sent Italy home early.

Best redemption: Bernard Parker. Horrible moment for the South African striker where he cleared his teammate’s shot off the line in the opener vs Iraq, but Parker scored two in the next game vs New Zealand and all was forgiven.

Biggest impact form a player most people had never heard of: Charlie Davies. He plays for Hammarby in Sweden, in case you were wondering.

Any other individual awards? Hand them out in the comments.

The Confederations Cup 2009 is done, with both the third place playoff and the final taking place today. Congratulations to champions Brazil (who celebrated by wearing their shirts backwards) and to USA (yes, they threw away a two goal lead, but achieved plenty just by being in the final).

Highlights from both the final and the third place playoff after the jump…

Let’s start with the game no one was interested in:

South Africa 2-3 Spain (aet)

Hosts South Africa went ahead through sub Katlego Mphela in the 73rd, and came thisclose to claiming third place. But Spanish sub Dani Guiza scored in both the 88th and 89th (the second of which was clearly a cross) before Mphela made it 2-2 with a screamer of a free kick in the 93rd and sent it to extra time. If you came late to this game, you timed it right.

South Africa did themselves proud, but had to settle for fourth after Xabi Alonso curled a 107th minute free kick into the far bottom corner.

Spain’s winning run has begun again, but South Africa have done themselves proud at this tournament by running both Brazil and Spain close.

Now onto the more serious game…

Brazil 3-2 USA (goals, highlights and celebrations)

Obviously this was a bigger deal for the USA than for Brazil. The US has never won a tournament not named the Gold Cup, so the Confed Cup trophy would have taken pride of place in the US Soccer cabinet.

And after just 27 minutes, they were 2-0 up thanks to Clint Dempsey’s gentle volley (he meant it though, I think) and Landon Donovan’s goal on the counter-attack. With Oguchi Onyewu and Jay DeMerit putting on a repeat show of their defending vs Spain and Tim Howard looking like some sort of unbeatable half android, half human goalkeeping monster, a win looked a real possibility at half-time.

Second half was a different story, as Luis Fabiano’s turn and volley made it 2-1 with just 45:30 on the clock. From there it was almost all Brazil. Howard continued to make save after save, and even somehow convinced the refs that Kaka’s header hadn’t crossed the line (it clearly had).

Kaka’s influence grew and he eventually created Brazil equalizer by accelerating past Spector down the right and crossing for Robinho to hit the underside of the bar and Luis Fabiano to bury the rebound. Last but not least, Lucio made it 3-2 Brazil with just six minutes left when he headed home an Elano corner.

Great game of football for the neutral, and if the World Cup 2010 Final is even half as exciting as this, then I’ll be happy.

US fans might feel annoyed that their team let a 2-0 lead in a final disappear. Like when you smell great food heading your way in a restaurant and start salivating, only to see the food delivered to the next table. But the fact that the US even came that close is an achievement in itself, especially for a team that was all but mathematically eliminated before the final group game. They did well just to be at the table.

As for Brazil, that’s trophy number two for Dunga, who can respond to his critics with both Copa America and Confederations Cup medals. Not everyone loves how his Brazil plays, and the questions will continue all the way up to (and during) World Cup 2010. But his team battled back from two goals down today and got the job done.

USA WCB preview here

Brazil WCB preview here

LiveBlog (from 30 minutes before kick off) below…

Any predictions?