The perfect World Cup dress rehearsal

Brazil’s Confederations Cup triumph over Spain sounded the warning bells to their rivals ahead of hosting the World Cup next year. It was a breathtaking performance on home soil at the iconic Maracana Stadium in Rio as the Selecao beat the reigning World and European champions three nil. Fred scored twice, but Neymar who scored the second on the night again stole the limelight with yet another stellar display. After the match the Barcelona-bound striker said: “I think Brazil has shown to the world that this is the Brazilian national team, and that we also must be respected, we had great victory over the best team in the world with some of the best players in the world. We didn’t hide, we went all out and were all running and playing very strongly, so that shows how we are a strong team.” Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque accepted his side were beaten by a better team on the night and said: “Well of course we are not happy with the defeat, we have to analyse it and not gloss over it, but I think that when we look at our track record, we can be optimistic. And that one day when the opposition team is superior, we must accept the defeat but that doesn’t mean we should conform, but rather grow from this situation.” While Brazil celebrated their third consecutive Fifa Confederations Cup triumph Spain saw their 29-match competitive unbeaten record come to disappointing and frustrating end.