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On Sunday, in the Confederations Cup A group, the remaining teams started their matches - the Italian and Mexican national teams met at the legendary "Maracana" stadium.
M.Balotelli celebrates a goal (AFP photo)
At the beginning of the match, C.Prandelli's team failed to take advantage of their opponents' mistakes. However, in the 27th minute, M.Balotelli was brought down outside the penalty area and the opportunity to score was taken perfectly by the Italian defender Andrea Pirlo - 1-0.
The Mexicans did not give up and in the 32nd minute Giovani dos Santos forced Andrea Barzagli to make a mistake - he took the ball and was fouled inside the penalty area. The resulting penalty kick was successfully converted by Javier Hernandez - 1-1.
In the 61st minute, M.Balotelli, unable to stay on his feet, tried to earn a penalty kick, but the referee's whistle remained silent.
In the 69th minute, Gerardo Flores could have changed the result, but the Mexican's header flew wide of the goal.
In the 78th minute, the Italians put together a great attack - Emanuele Giaccherini made a pass to M.Balotelli and the forward did not miss - 2-1.
Italy 2 - 1 Mexico 27' [0 - 1] A. Pirlo 34' [1 - 1] J. Hernandez (from penalty kick) 78' [1 - 2] M. Balotelli
Group A standings: (Position, team, played, wins, draws, losses, goals, points) 1. Brazil 1 1 0 0 3 3 2. Italy 1 1 0 0 1 3 3. Mexico 1 0 0 1 -1 0 4. Japan 1 0 0 1 -3 0
