FIFA Confederations Cup 2005 / Group B
This article covers preliminary group B of the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup .
| Pl. | country | Sp. | S. | U | N | Gates | Diff. | Points |
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| 1. |
 Mexico
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3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3: 1 | +2 | 7th |
| 2. |
 Brazil
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3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5: 3 | +2 | 4th |
| 3. |
 Japan
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3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4: 4 | ± 0 | 4th |
| 4th |
 Greece
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3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0: 4 | −4 | 1 |
Japan - Mexico 1: 2 (1: 1)
| Japan | Mexico | |||||
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Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi - Makoto Tanaka , Tsuneyasu Miyamoto , Takayuki Chano (82. Keiji Tamada ) - Akira Kaji , Hidetoshi Nakata , Takashi Fukunishi , Alex - Shunsuke Nakamura (59. Junichi Inamoto ), Mitsuo Ogasawara (68. Masashi Oguro ) - Atsushi Yanagisawa Coach: Zico ( Brazil )
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Oswaldo Sánchez - Aarón Galindo , Ricardo Osorio , Carlos Salcido - Salvador Carmona , Gerardo Torrado (46th Luis Ernesto Pérez ), Pável Pardo , Jaime Lozano (46th Gonzalo Pineda ) - Zinha - Jared Borgetti , Francisco Fonseca (86th Juan Pablo Rodríguez ) Coach: Ricardo La Volpe ( Argentina )
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 1-0 Yanagisawa (12th)
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1: 1 Zinha (39th) 1: 2 Fonseca (64th)
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 Kaji
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Match report
Japan lost 2-1 to Mexico. The team, which was trained by the former Brazilian midfield star Zico , could not convince in the first game. Mexico narrowly prevailed after a 1-0 deficit against the Japanese. The FIFA world rankings sixth remained undefeated in their 19th game in a row.
Brazil - Greece 3: 0 (1: 0)
| Brazil | Greece | |||||
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Dida - Cicinho , Roque Júnior , Lúcio , Gilberto - Kaká (77th Juninho ), Emerson , Zé Roberto , Ronaldinho (71st Renato ) - Adriano (71st Ricardo Oliveira ), Robinho Coach: Carlos Alberto Parreira |
Antonios Nikopolidis - Georgios Seitaridis (46. Loukas Vyntra ), Ioannis Goumas , Sotirios Kyrgiakos , Angelo Basinas - Giorgos Karagounis , Theodore Zagorakis (73. Ioannis Amanatidis ), Konstantinos Katsouranis , Stelios Giannakopoulos - Zisis Vryzas (46. Dimitrios Papadopoulos ), Charisteas Coach: Otto Rehhagel ( Germany )
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1-0 Adriano (41.) 2-0 Robinho (46.) 3-0 Juninho (81.)
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Gilberto
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Karagounis, Kyrgiakos
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Match report
As the reigning world champion, Brazil clearly won the game against the European champions and coach Carlos Alberto Parreira was able to replace some top performers early on. Although the stars Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos and Cafu were on vacation, the South American team, which started with four Bundesliga players , won confidently. Greece was clearly inferior to the five-time world champions in the first game in the sold-out central stadium in Leipzig. The team of the German trainer Otto Rehhagel could not build on the strong performances of the 2004 European Football Championship .
Greece - Japan 0: 1 (0: 0)
| Greece | Japan | |||||
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Antonios Nikopolidis - Stathis Tavlaridis (31 Vassilios Tsiartas ), Sotirios Kyrgiakos , Konstantinos Katsouranis , Panagiotis Fyssas - Vassilis Lakis (59th Dimitris Papadopoulos ), Giorgos Karagounis , Angelos Basinas , Stelios Giannakopoulos - Zisis Vryzas (46th Theofanis Gekas ), Angelos Charisteas Coach: Otto Rehhagel ( Germany )
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Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi - Akira Kaji , Makoto Tanaka , Tsuneyasu Miyamoto , Alex - Shunsuke Nakamura (89 Kōji Nakata ), Hidetoshi Nakata , Takashi Fukunishi , Mitsuo Ogasawara (74th Yasuhito Endō ) - Keiji Tamada (66 Masashi Oguro ), Atsushi Yanagisawa coach : Zico ( Brazil )
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0: 1 Oguro (76th)
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Karagounis (2nd, blocked)
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Nakamura, Yanagisawa, Alex
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Match report
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After both teams lost their first game, victory was essential for both Greece and Japan to preserve their chances of progressing. The Japanese had a much better start to the game and had several opportunities to take the lead in the first half. The Greeks, however, disappointed - a shot from 20 meters away from Giorgos Karagounis was the only significant chance before half-time.
Even after the break, the Greeks had great problems creating scoring opportunities. After the Japanese took a deserved lead with a goal from Masashi Ōguro in the 76th minute, Angelos Charisteas had the chance to equalize from ten meters in the 84th minute.
After Mexico's surprising victory against Brazil, the Greeks now had no chance of reaching the semi-finals.
Mexico - Brazil 1: 0 (0: 0)
| Mexico | Brazil | |||||
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Oswaldo Sánchez - Salvador Carmona , Aarón Galindo , Ricardo Osorio , Carlos Salcido - Ramón Morales (73rd Alberto Medina ), Zinha , Pável Pardo , Gonzalo Pineda (69th Mario Méndez ) - Jared Borgetti , Francisco Fonseca (46th Luis Ernesto Pérez ) Coach: Ricardo La Volpe ( Argentina )
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Dida - Cicinho , Roque Júnior , Lúcio , Gilberto - Kaká (76th Juninho ), Emerson (66th Renato ), Zé Roberto , Ronaldinho - Adriano , Robinho (66th Ricardo Oliveira ) Coach: Carlos Alberto Parreira |
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1-0 Borgetti (59th)
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Pineda, Sanchez
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Roque Júnior
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 Dida saves a penalty from Borgetti (32.)
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Match report
Mexico coach Ricardo La Volpe made two changes to their 2-1 opening win against Japan: Torrado and Lozano were replaced by Morales and Pineda.
Brazil started with the same team as against Greece . In a game that was initially mixed up, world champions Brazil gradually took the initiative, but without creating dangerous chances. Mexico immediately withdrew into their own half when they lost the ball and narrowed the space in front of the goal. After half an hour, referee Rosetti then took center stage. After a cross from Morales, Borgetti fell in the penalty area, besieged by Roque Júnior, and the Italian referee decided on a penalty. The fouled player initially converted it, but Rosetti had it repeated twice because players ran into the penalty area too early, against the rules. Borgetti could not convert the penalty on both reps.
The second half started much faster, the game became more open with chances on both sides. Borgetti headed a corner kick from the left by Pardo in the 59th minute into the lower right corner. Then Mexico defended their own penalty area with a tight defensive bar. Extremely strong and with unconditional commitment, the team saved the success over time with luck and skill. The first big surprise at the 2005 Confederations Cup was perfect. Mexico defeated the top favorites Brazil 1-0 in Group B, which was not undeservedly, and were thus the semi-finalists, while Brazil had to draw at least one more in their last game against Japan .
Greece 0-0 Mexico
| Greece | Mexico | |||||
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Antonios Nikopolidis - Loukas Vyntra , Ioannis Goumas , Michalis Kapsis (74. Efstathios Tavlaridis ), Panagiotis Fyssas - Ioannis Amanatidis (46 Theofanis Gekas ), Theodore Zagorakis , Angelo Basinas , Stelios Giannakopoulos - Zisis Vryzas (61. Dimitrios Papadopoulos ), Charisteas Coach: Otto Rehhagel ( Germany )
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Oswaldo Sánchez - Mario Méndez , Ricardo Osorio , Gonzalo Pineda , Carlos Salcido - Ramón Morales , Pável Pardo (46th Alberto Medina ), Juan Pablo Rodríguez , Jaime Lozano (73rd Rafael Márquez ) - Luis Ernesto Pérez - Francisco Fonseca (61st Gerardo Torrado ) Coach: Ricardo La Volpe ( Argentina )
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Tavlaridis, Amanatidis
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Pardo, Rodríguez
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Match report
Greece was already eliminated after the 1-0 defeat against Japan. In the last group game, the Hellenes wanted to prove again why they had become European champions. Otto Rehhagel switched his team to five positions: Katsouranis was injured, Karagounis was suspended from yellow cards, Tavlaridis, Lakis and Kyrgiakos took their seats on the bench. Kapsis, Vyntra, Goumas, Zagorakis and the Bundesliga player Amanatidis joined the team.
After the acclaimed 1-0 victory over Brazil, Mexico had already qualified for the semi-finals. Coach Ricardo La Volpe suspended Galindo and Carmona after indiscipline. In addition to the two deleted ones, the Mexicans spared Zinha and Borgetti. For this quartet Méndez, Lozano, Rodríguez and Pérez moved into the starting line-up.
The bottom line was that the draw was fair because the Greeks were superior, but couldn't capitalize on it. Mexico only woke up towards the end of the game but were equally unsuccessful in front of goal.
Japan - Brazil 2: 2 (1: 2)
| Japan | Brazil | |||||
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Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi - Akira Kaji , Tsuneyasu Miyamoto , Makoto Tanaka , Alex - Shunsuke Nakamura , Hidetoshi Nakata , Takashi Fukunishi , Mitsuo Ogasawara (46th Kōji Nakata ) - Keiji Tamada (46 Masashi Oguro ), Atsushi Yanagisawa (73. Takayuki Suzuki ) coach : Zico ( Brazil )
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Marcos - Cicinho , Juan , Lúcio , Léo - Kaká (62nd Renato ), Gilberto Silva , Zé Roberto (78th Edu ), Ronaldinho - Adriano (62nd Júlio Baptista ), Robinho Trainer: Carlos Alberto Parreira |
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1: 1 Nakamura (27th) 2: 2 Oguro (88th)
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0: 1 Robinho (10th) 1: 2 Ronaldinho (32nd)
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Alex (2nd, blocked), K. Nakata, Kaji (2nd, blocked)
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Zé Roberto, Cicinho
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Match report
The starting position before the game of the reigning world champions against the reigning Asian champions was clear. Regardless of the outcome of the parallel kick-off between Mexico and Greece in Frankfurt, the winner of today's game in Cologne's Rhein-Energie-Stadion would advance to the semi-finals, while the loser would be eliminated. In the event of a tie, the “Seleção” would have the better end for itself due to the goal difference. Accordingly, the Zico team had to be out for a win.
In a fast-paced and worth seeing encounter, Brazil played 2-2 against Japan , albeit with luck (a goal by Akira Kaji was considered offside due to a wrong decision ). The "Seleção" moved into the semi-finals due to the better goal difference compared to the Asian champions. There it came to the absolute top game against the DFB selection of national coach Jürgen Klinsmann.
Group A | Group B | Semifinals | 3rd place match | Final | Squad