Mexico score surprise 1-0 win over Brazil
Japan strike late to down Greece
Mexico scored an upset 1-0 win over world champions Brazil to seal their place in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup yesterday.
Jared Borgetti, who failed to score in the first half despite taking a penalty three times, emerged as Mexico's hero, glancing home a 59th-minute header.
Mexico are now unbeaten in 19 matches since Brazil beat them 4-0 in the Copa America last July and were worth their victory in a superb match played on a balmy night in northern Germany.
Both teams had plenty of scoring chances, but Brazil squandered all of theirs although they were unfortunate to be denied an equaliser after 68 minutes when Adriano was ruled just offside after powering in a header from a Kaka cross.
Mexico lead Group B with six points from their two matches, followed by Brazil and Japan on three and Greece bottom with none.
Mexico play Greece in their last group match in Frankfurt on Wednesday while Brazil face Japan in Cologne to decide who takes the other semi-final place.
In Frankfurt, substitute Masashi Oguro pounced with 14 minutes to go to give Japan a 1-0 win over Greece.
Japan had looked set to pay a high price for bad finishing, with strikers Atsushi Yanagisawa and Keiji Tamada guilty of a series of appalling misses in a one-sided game.
But Zico's team showed patience as well as masterly technique and they took the lead when Oguro ran on to a pass from Shunsuke Nakamura and tucked the ball past Antonis Nikopolidis.
Angelos Haristeas brought one good save from keeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi with six minutes to go but otherwise Japan were untroubled by a disappointing Greece display.
Japan's midfield carved through the Greek defence with the same panache shown by Brazil in their 3-0 win over the European champions on Thursday.
Japan do not possess a centre-forward of the calibre of Adriano, however.
Greece, missing the influential Theodoros Zagorakis in midfield, stuck to a clear gameplan at the start, launching high balls up for Haristeas and Zisis Vryzas.
That tactic had caused Japan problems in their 2-1 defeat by Mexico but they defended much better this time and were soon troubling Greece on the counter-attack.
Greece abandoned all thoughts of attacking themselves for the remainder of the half and concentrated instead on trying to blunt their opponents in midfield.
They were almost entirely unsuccessful, as Nakamura and Hidetoshi Nakata ripped through their defences.
Tamada was set running on goal with another precise pass from Nakamura but his shot was wide.
A couple of minutes later, it was Nakata setting up Yanagisawa with a clever ball but the forward's chip was weakly struck and Angelos Basinas was able to clear.
Chances continued to come thick and fast for Japan in the second half, with Greece remaining utterly bemused as to how to cope with their precise passing.
Oguro came on for Tamada and he showed a far cooler head than his colleague when exchanging passes with Nakamura before supplying a calm finish under pressure.
Group A
Results: Argentina vs Tunisia 2-1; Ger-many vs Australia 4-3; Germany vs Tunisia 3-0; Australia vs Argentina 2-3.
Next matches: (Tomorrow) 8.45 p.m. Australia vs Tunisia; 8.45 p.m. Argentina vs Germany.
Group B
Played Yesterday
Greece 0
Japan 1
Greece: Nikopolidis; Lakis (Papadopoulos 59), Kyrgiakos, Basinas, Tavlaridis (Tsartas 31), Fyssas; Giannakopoulos, Katsouranis, Karagounis; Vryzas (Gekas 46), Haristeas.
Japan: Kawaguchi; Kaji, Tanaka, Miyamoto, Alex; Ogasawara (Endo 74), Nakata, Fukunishi, Nakamura (Nakata 89); Tamada (Oguro 65), Yanagisawa.
Referee: Fandel Herbert (Germany).
Attendance: 25,000.
Mexico 1
Brazil 0
Mexico: Sanchez; Osorio, Galindo, Salcido; Carmona, Pardo, Zinha, Morales (Medina 73), Pineda (Mendez 69); Fonseca (Perez 46), Borgetti.
Brazil: Dida; Cicinho, Lucio, Roque Junior, Gilberto; Kaka (Juninho Pernambucano 76), Emerson (Renato 66), Ze Roberto, Ronaldinho; Adriano, Robinho (Oliveira 67).
Referee: Mourad Daami (Tunisia).
Attendance: 39,297.
Results: Japan vs Mexico 1-2; Brazil vs Greece 3-0.
Next Matches: (Wednesday) 8.45 p.m. Greece vs Mexico; 8.45 p.m. Japan vs Brazil.
Knockout Stage
June 25
Semi-final: Winner Group A vs Runner-up Group B (6 p.m. - Nuremberg).
June 26
Semi-final: Winner Group B vs Runner-up Group A (6 p.m. - Hanover).
June 29
Third-place match: (5.45 p.m. - Leipzig).
Final: (8.45 p.m. - Frankfurt).