Confederations Cup

Here are the results of the Confederations Cup games in Group A:

Italy 4-3 Japan.


Italy completed a superb fightback to knock Japan out of the Confederations Cup and book their place in the semi-finals in a hugely entertaining game.
Japan went 2-0 up via Keisuke's Honda's penalty and Shinji Kagawa's strike.
But Italy responded in some style when Daniele De Rossi headed in before Atsuto Uchida's own goal and Mario Balotelli's penalty made it 3-2.
Japan equalised through Shinji Okazaki and also hit the woodwork, before Sebastian Giovinco sealed it for Italy.
Alberto Zaccheroni's Japan side could be justified in feeling the result in Recife was harsh on them.
Having surrendered a two-goal lead, then recovered from going behind to bring the scores level again after 69 minutes, they saw Okazaki and Kagawa hit post and bar respectively with eight minutes left.

So when Giovinco - a first-half substitute for Alberto Aquilani in an opening period dominated by Asia's champions - popped up to tuck in Claudio Marchisio's cross four minutes from time it was a crushing blow for the team that had showed the greater enterprise over 90 minutes. 

Brazil 2-0 Mexico.

Neymar produced a commanding performance as Brazil secured their place in the Confederations Cup semi-finals with victory at the Estadio Castelao in Fortaleza.

This was not the dominant performance that some had expected but it was Brazil's first competitive victory over Mexico in nine years and a third successive win under head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Neymar once again stole the show, scoring his second of the tournament after nine minutes with a fizzing volley and laying on a second for Jo to tap home in injury time, to keep Brazil top of Group A with six points, level on points with Italy, who are also through after beating Japan 4-3. The two sides play each other in their final group game to determine who finishes top.

• Neymar's goal was his 22nd in 25 games for Brazil. His late assist for Jo was his 14th for his country
• The 21-year-old has equalled the amount of goals scored for Brazil by Jair (1940-1950) and Socrates (1979-1986)

Mexico, having been outplayed in the opening 15 minutes, fought hard and did create chances as the match wore on but never really tested Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar.

In this part of the world they talk of the jogo bonito - the beautiful game - and although there was evidence of it here, Brazil were far from convincing.
History had been against Mexico coming into the game, both in terms of their opponents and the venue. No team had beaten Brazil on more occasions than Mexico since the turn of the century, with El Tri coming out on top in six of the past seven competitive meetings between the sides.
Fortaleza too, held memories Brazil might rather forget. Their last home defeat had come here in 2002 against Paraguay. They did not want a repeat.