The Confederations Cup 2009 in South Africa started yesterday with two matches in group A: South Africa-Iraq and Spain-New Zealand. The most characteristic thing of these two matches was how boring they were, and although there is nothing else to watch, this does not make one feel like watching football!
It is quite notable that the home-side, the cricket-nation of South Africa, cannot even fill their stadium for an important match. Is this really a football nation that will host a world cup!?!? And furthermore, that they proved unable to score against an overly defensive Iraqi side (who is unlikely to qualify for the World Cup), just shows that we are talking second-rate football.
There was not so much second rate about the Spanish European champions against the third-rate New Zealanders. It was barely 17 minutes into the match when Fernando Torres scored a hat-trick, and Spain barely broke a sweat in the rest of the match to win 5-0.
Spain has not lost for 33 matches and is looking very strong, so it is perhaps unfair to compare them to such a country as New Zealand. But truth is that watching these types of matches is as exciting as watching Sdr. Omme's 12-year old girls's side play against FC Barcelona. The difference is simply enormous!
The more interesting matches are only bound the be the ones involving Brazil, Italy and Spain. The rest of the teams in the Confederations Cup are just there as well-paid spectators.
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