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The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup will be the eighth Confederations Cup, and will be held in South Africa from 14 June to 28 June 2009, as a prelude to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The draw was held on 22 November 2008 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. The opening match will be played at Coca-Cola Park in Johannesburg.

Team Association Qualification Participation

• South Africa CAF 2010 FIFA World Cup host 2nd
• Italy UEFA 2006 FIFA World Cup winner 1st
• United States CONCACAF 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup winner 4th
• Brazil CONMEBOL Copa América 2007 winner 6th
• Iraq AFC 2007 AFC Asian Cup winner 1st
• Egypt CAF 2008 African Cup of Nations winner 2nd
• Spain UEFA UEFA Euro 2008 winner 1st
• New Zealand OFC 2008 OFC Nations Cup winner 3rd

Group A
South Africa
Iraq
New Zealand
Spain

Group B
United States
Italy
Brazil
Egypt

What a horrible draw.

In Group A
Spain is ranked #1 in the world by FIFA
South Africa #77
New Zealand #78
Iraq #86

In Group B
Brazil #4
Italy #5
USA #15
Egypt #37

It looks like FIFA rigged it so that the host country could advance to Stage 2 (top 2 from each group advance).
At least the US will get some good competition.

Wow - that is a shitty draw

Brazil's roster:

Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Gomes (Tottenham Hotspur), Victor (Gremio)

Defenders: Maicon (Inter Milan), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Alex (Chelsea), Juan (AS Roma), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Luisao (Benfica), Kleber (Internacional), Andre Santos (Corinthians).

Midfielders: Anderson (Manchester United), Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), Josue (VfL Wolfsburg), Ramires (Cruzeiro), Elano (Manchester City), Felipe Melo (Fiorentina), Julio Baptista (AS Roma), Kaka (AC Milan)

Forwards: Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), Nilmar (Internacional), Robinho (Manchester City)

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... 0&&cc=3888

Victor, Ramires, Felipe Melo, and Andre Santos are all uncapped while Nilmar has three. Dunga has said form is more important than names, and has left Ronaldinho off the squad for this reason. Notable omissions are Grafite and Diego.

In my opinion, this is a young and relatively inexperienced Brazil squad. We played them much tougher than than the 4-2 score in Chicago two years ago indicates, and that was against a better squad. In the past teams have treated this tournament like a series of friendlies for their B/C teams, and it seems like Dunga has no plans to deviate from this formula. Depending on the roster Italy puts out, I optimistically say 4 points should be our goal.

Egypt is impossible for me to gauge, almost all of their players are in the domestic league, and they are two-time African champs. There are many more quality teams in CAF than CONCACAF, and one team always misses out on WC qualifying that is a major surprise.

Seeing this roster, and knowing Bradley is trying to take our A team, I would say:
-Italy: Tie
-Brazil: Win
-Egypt: Loss