© EuroFootball.com
In the Confederations Cup tournament, the second day matches were played featuring teams from Group B. Mexico defeated Japan after a tense battle, while in a duel between World and European champions, Brazil convincingly beat Greece.
Now, there will be a one-day break in the cup, and on Saturday the matches will continue in Group A: at 19:00 Germany will face Tunisia, and at 20:45 Australia will play against Argentina.
Japan 1 - 2 Mexico
12' [0 - 1] Atsushi Yanagisawa
39' [1 - 1] Zinha
64' [2 - 1] Jose Fonseca
Despite Mexico's more active play at the start of the match and a couple of missed opportunities, Japan surprisingly took the lead in the 12th minute - A.Yanagisawa sent the ball from A.Kaji into the goal.
The missed goal unsettled the Mexicans, and Japan took the initiative, but they failed to score. In the 28th minute, the Japanese goalkeeper saved a header from J.Borgetti.
Mexico recovered, and with six minutes left until the end of the first half, the Brazilian-born Mexican Zinha equalized the score with a superb shot to the corner of the goal.
The second half started similarly to the first - Mexico controlled the game, and Japan waited for their opponents' mistakes. In the second minute, S.Carmona missed a shot, and later the Japanese goalkeeper saved shots from Zinha and L.Perez. In the 57th minute, J.Borgetti's shot hit the post after a pass from Zinha.
However, Mexico's pressure finally paid off in the 64th minute when J.Fonseca scored with a header after a pass from Perez, putting his team ahead. Now Japan needed to chase the opponents, but shots from Yanagisawa and K.Tamada were off target - Mexico won and extended their unbeaten streak to 19 matches.
Brazil 3 - 0 Greece
42' [1 - 0] Leite Ribeiro Adriano
46' [2 - 0] Robson de Souza Robinho
81' [3 - 0] Juninho Pernambucano
In the beginning, the Greeks tried to attack, while the Brazilian national team gradually got into the game and started controlling the ball, but they did not create any dangerous chances - the disciples of O.Rehhagel successfully defended.
It was only towards the end of the first half that Brazil managed to break through: Adriano stopped the ball on the right edge and unexpectedly hit a powerful shot from about 25 meters, catching goalkeeper A.Nikopolidis off guard.
At the start of the second half, the World champions doubled their lead when Robinho, left alone in front of the goalkeeper after a mistake by a defender, sent the ball into the net following a pass from Gilberto.
With nine minutes left in regular time, Juninho, who entered the field after a substitution, did what he does best - he scored a brilliant penalty kick, sending the ball over the wall and into the corner of the goal, leaving no chance for the Greek goalkeeper.
Soon afterwards, Robinho scored again, but his goal was disallowed for offside. The result remained unchanged, and Brazil impressively defeated the European champions Greece. In the next match, Brazil will face Mexico, while Greece will play against Japan.
