By: Mayowa Akindele for NileSports.com
Originally known as the King Fahd Cup, contested in 1992 and 1995, it involves the saudi arabia team and some continental champions, Nigeria represented Africa in 1995 but lost out in the knock-out stages to Mexico. Fifa took over it’s organisation in 1997 and staged it every two (2) years until 2003, In 2005, it was announced that it will now be held every four(4) years. It serves as test-run for the world cup, it hosts champions of each continent namely AFRICA (CAF), ASIA (AFC), EUROPE (UEFA), NORTH AMERICA (CONCACAF), OCEANIA (OFC), SOUTH AMERICA
(CONMEBOL), FIFA WORLD CUP WINNERS and the Next FIFA WORLD CUP HOST. If the world cup winners also come tops in its confederation, then the world cup runner-up will be called upon.
However a team is allowed to pull out of the tournament and be replaced. Argentina, Denmark, Brazil, Mexico and France have all been crowned Champions of the confederations cup with Brazil and France emerging winners twice. The Overall top scorers of this event are Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Mexico) and Ronaldinho (Brazil) with 9 goals each.
This year’s edition will be hosted in South Africa with Italy, Spain, Brazil, Egypt, New Zealand, USA and Iraq all fighting for honours.
Four cities would host the 2- week long event:
Johannesburg with stadium capacity of 62,567.
Pretoria with stadium capacity of 50,000.
Bloemfontein with stadium capacity of 48,000 and
Rustenburg with stadium capacity of 42,000.
Group A:
South Africa:
The team has been under criticism in recent times following their failure to qualify for the Africa Nations Cup to be held in Angola by 2010. Though the team is virtually made up of Home based players, the exclusion of some top players including Benny Mc Carthy from the squad has also fueled more pressure on the
Coach Joel Santana. Also, the rumoured strike embarked by the players last week over match bonuses leaves the players under more pressure too but with the team’s recent attacking style of play, South African fans are hopeful that the team can make it to the next stage of the tournament in a group that looks easy.
However, the fans are expected to come out in mass to see their football stars.South Africa plays her first match against Iraq on sunday june 14th, 2009 (4:00pm local time) in the opening match of the tournament.
Player to watch out for: Steven Pienaar (Everton fc) and Bernard Parker
Iraq:
Surprised Asian Champions, this would serve as their own world cup because they won’t be part of the mundial in
2010. Coached by veteran, Bora Milutinovic, the team is capable of causing upsets. They are very much ready to
show the world what they are capable of doing.
Player to watch for: Nashat Akram (recently signed for FC TWENTE in Holland) and Karrar Jassim
New Zealand:
Regarded as minnows in this event and with no high rated players, they are not expected to spring a surprise in South Africa.
Coach: Ricki Herbert is expected to use a team made up of local players. Also, with the recent 4-3 loss to italy some few days ago, the team is confident that they can put up a good performance.Since Ryan Nelson (Blackburn Rovers) is out, Celtic’s Chris Kellen, A- league’s player of the year, Shane Smeltz, Chris James and West Brom’s Chris wood are the players to watch out for.
Spain:
Undoubtedly the best team in Europe,rated number one in the latest fifa ranking,unbeaten in 32 games, a compact team straight from the defense to attack, the spanish team are much favorites to win this tournament, with top rated players from Top leagues across europe, they would have an easy ride in the group stages so Coach Vincente del bosque has little or nothing to worry about with great spine of talents in his team. Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Gerrard Pique, Fabregas, Fernando Torres and David Villa are all players to watch out for.
Group B:
Brazil:
Winners of this event in 2005, the samba boys has been impressive in the last few games, despite starting their world cup qualifiers campaign on a shaky note, they are now tops of the Conmebol table and are sure to be in Africa next 
summer, Coach Dunga has some exceptional talents just like his spanish counterpart, his team is surely tipped to make it to the finals with the best of football artistery coming from this team, despite ronaldinho and ronaldo’s absence, the likes of Pato, Luis fabiano and Julio Ceasar are all players to watch out for.
Egypt:
One of the best teams in Africa on paper, but struggling on the field of play at the moment, the pharaohs are on the verge of missing out of the mundial next year following poor results recorded at the world cup qualifiers, back-to-back winners of the african nations cup and with a bit consistency over the years, coach Hassan shehata’s team is expected to put up a fight in this so- called group of death, with no solid performance at global events, they are keen to show to the world why they have been a formidable side in Africa. Player to watch out for Mohammed Aboutrika (Al Ahly).
Italy:
Coming into this event as World champions and known for their defensive style of play, the Azurris are no push overs, they have a great squad full of solid experienced professionals who can stand out among the world’s best, coach Marcello Lippi is confident that his team can repeat what they did in 2006 at Germany.
Players to watch out for:
Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Giuseppe Rossi (Villareal fc).
USA:
Appearing in this event for the fourth (4) time, finding themselves in a tough group, exclusion of some top players due to injuries, coach Bob Bradley believes his side can spring surprises due to their past records in this event.
Players to watch out for: Landon Donovan, Oguchi Onyewu and Freddy Adu Akindele Mayowa, 23 Lagos, Ni
geria.
