The 1999th Edition of the Confederations Cup was the
second under the heading of FIFA. It would be also be the first not to be
hosted by Saudi Arabia, with Mexico being named as hosts.
The major hurdle with this edition would be the scheduling that
would ultimately affect the quality of teams for this edition.
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(1999
Confedrations Cup logo)
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Just like the previous editions, initially FIFA were hoping to
organize the event in midseason (January 8th-January 20th)
but this did not suit many Nations especially France, the recent 1998 World Cup
winners.
The President of the French League (LNF) Noel Le Graet opposed
that players missing French League Cup matches (on January 9-10), as well as
League matches (January 16th).
The voices of discontent did not only come from France, the
Italian, English and Spanish Leagues (that contained many of the French
players, as well as some of the other participating Nations) were also opposed
to the dates. The English Premier League boss Peter Leaver confirmed that they
would not cede to Pressure from FIFA to release players.
At one point, France discussed the possibility of sending a weaker
team that would include many U-21 level players.
The possibility of France’s withdrawal forced FIFA President Sepp
Blatter to ask UEFA for a substitute representative. Croatia and Germany
declared themselves as candidates.
At this point, the dates were also changed to the summertime (July
28th to August 8th).
French Federation President Claude Simonet stated that he could
not refuse the offer a second time but proposed the dates to be moved up June
instead of July as the late July-early August dates would disrupt the clubs’
pre-season preparations.
Blatter would not budge on the dates but in December asked for a
slight modification (from July 24th to August 4th).
On December 18th, 1998, the French Federation went back
on their promise and withdrew. On December 22nd, Germany were named
as replacements.
The matches would take place just days after the 1999 Copa America
that included participants Brazil, Bolivia and Mexico.
This would further complicate participation of top players from
these Nations.
The Mexican hosts were without Pablo Cesar Chavez and Rodrigo
Lara, both suspended after failing Drugs test in the Copa America.
The Mexico players were furious at the suspension of the duo and
their Federation’s perceived passivity on the matter. Incidentally, Sepp
Blatter had stated that FIFA did not recognize the suspension of Chavez and
Lara.
Brazil would give much needed rest to most of its major stars.
Cafu, Antonio Carlos Zago, Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo, Amoroso and most importantly
Ronaldo would miss out.
Brazil Manager Vanderlei Luxemburgo would nonetheless retain
goalkeepers Dida and Marcos and outfield players: Joao Carlos, Emerson, Ze
Roberto, Flavio
Conceição, Marcos, Odvan, Vampeta, Alex, Evanilson, Cesar Belli, Serginho, Beto,
Christian, Marcos Paulo and a teenager named Ronaldinho from the recent Copa
America squad.
Germany’s squad was even more threadbare. Their entire
participation had been unpopular and had been at the behest of their Federation
with the sole goal of earning goodwill to get the hosting rights for the 2006
World Cup.
The German Manager Erich Ribbeck was openly disgruntled with the
decision. He stated, “I don’t know why we’re going there. The German players
are just starting pre-season training at their clubs while Brazil have just
finished Copa America. We risk taking a beating like we did against USA (0-3)
in February. But it appears that for political reasons we have to travel”.
The German Federation instructed Ribbeck to select a maximum of
three players from each club to help out the clubs during their pre-season
preparations. This ruling also included foreign players as a result Brazil were
able to select Bayer Leverkusen’s Emerson and Ze Roberto as well as their
American player Frankie Hejduk. This drew the ire of Leverkusen Manager
Christoph Daum. He stated that the Brazilian Federation had given their word
that the Brazilian duo would only participate in the Copa America.
Germany Captain Oliver Bierhoff also withdrew preferring to stay
for his club, AC Milan’s pre-season preparation. Dietmar Hamann also stayed
behind as he was negotiating his transfer from Newcastle United to Liverpool.
Injuries ruled out the likes of Markus Babbel, Jens Jeremies,
Oliver Kahn (all Bayern Munich), Ulf Kirsten, Stefan Beinlich, Jens Nowotny
(all Bayer Leverkusen), Marko Rehmer (Hertha Berlin) and Marco Bode (Werder
Bremen).
Ribbeck called up five previously uncapped players: Enke,
Schneider, Maul, Gerber and Dogan. He had initially called up Karlsruhe’s
goalkeeper Simon
Jentzsch (in the Second Division). However, due to the Two
goalkeepers ruling, Ribbeck took out Jentzsch and called up Rink.
USA opted to leave out its star Claudio Reyna (Rangers Glasgow) as
well as Bundesliga-based Tonny Sanneh (Hertha Berlin).
The participants would be drawn in two Groups. Group A (at Mexico
City) contained hosts Mexico along with Bolivia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Group B (at Guadalajara) contained Brazil, Germany, USA and New
Zealand.
The Tournament (and Group B) kicked off on July 24th
with what would have been a mouth-watering clash between Brazil and Germany.
However, the weakened state of both teams took the gloss of the event (as well
as its final result).
The Brazilian squad was better prepared and match ready due to the
recent Copa America. Germany resisted for an hour before Brazil opened the
floodgates and demolished the tiring Germans (4-0).
Erich
Ribbeck later declared, “at 0-2, I could live with it
but 0-4 hurts”.
On the same day, USA defeated New Zealand (2-1).
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(July
24, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, Brazil 4-Germnay 0)
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(July
24, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, Brazil 4-Germnay 0)
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(July
24, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, New Zealand 1-USA 2)
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(July
24, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, New Zealand 1-USA 2)
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Four days later (July 26th), Germany defeated New
Zealand (2-0) with the ageing (38 year old) Lothar Matthaus scoring one of the
goals.
Brazil defeated USA (1-0) with the emerging Ronaldinho settling
matters with a header.
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(July
28, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, Germnay 2-New Zealand 0)
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(July
28, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, Brazil 1-USA 0)
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On July 30th, Group B play wrapped up with Brazil
predictably defeating New Zealand (2-0) to win the Group.
Second place in the Group was in play as USA faced Germany. The
Americans would compound on the Germans’ misery with a second win (2-0) over
them in the same calendar year (after the 3-0 in the previous February).
Naturally the German Press had its knives out for the embarrassing
displays (despite the weakened state and general dis-interest of the squad).
After the loss, German newspaper ‘Welt am Sontag’ came out with a
headline reading, “how could Germany embarrass themselves like that?”
Former coaching great Uddo Latteck described the trip as a fiasco
that would have consequences.
He stated, “Our players
didn’t play with each other, but alongside each other. Why can’t they enjoy the
game the way Americans did? The deeper causes lie in our German mentality. We
Germans are far too serious, we forget about having fun when we play”. He also
suggested that Ribbeck should resign.
Franz Beckenbauer thought differently, his goal was the 2006 World
Cup. He stated, “we’ve opened the gate a bit wider for 2006, because now that
we are losing matches like other teams we’ve become a bit more likeable”.
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(July
30, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, USA 2-Germnay 0)
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Group A matches kicked off on July 25th with
Bolivia-Egypt (2-2) and the Mexican hosts hammering Saudi Arabia (5-1).
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(July
25, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, Mexico 5-Saudi Arabia 1)
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(July
25, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, Mexico 5-Saudi Arabia 1)
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(July
25, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, Bolivia 2-Egypt 2)
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(July
25, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, Bolivia 2-Egypt 2)
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This Group always appeared a formality for the hosts, although
they were somewhat complacent for their second match vs. Egypt on July 27th.
They let a (2-0) lead slip away and settled for a (2-2) draw as the Egyptians
scored twice in the last ten minutes.
This Group was very much in play on the last day of Group matches
(July 29th).
Egypt failed to build on its showing vs. Mexico and were
comprehensively beaten by Saudi Arabia (5-1) with Marzouq Al-Otaibi scoring
four of their goals.
Mexico
defeated Bolivia (1-0) to win the Group and advance along with Saudi Arabia to
the semifinals.
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(July
27, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, Saudi Arabia 0-Bolivia 0)
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Photo
From: Mediotiempo.com
(July
29, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, Mexico 1-Bolivia 0)
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The
semifinals took place on August 1st with Mexico facing USA at the
Azteca and Brazil taking on Saudi Arabia at Guadalajara.
The Mexico-USA match was a tight affair with both teams having
chances. USA goalkeeper Kasey Keller was in excellent form and kept the hosts
at bay with many fine saves. The Match was scoreless and had to go to overtime.
In the 7th minute of the overtime, Mexico finally
breached the American defense through Cuauhtémoc Blanco after a goalmouth scramble. The
match ended due to the Golden Goal rule.
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Photo
From: World Soccer, September 1999
(August
1, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, Mexico 1-USA 0)
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(August
1, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup, Mexico 1-USA 0)
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The Brazil-Saudi Arabia match was feast of goals. Brazil had taken
a quick two-goal lead but Saudi Arabia fought their way back to tie with two
goals by Mazrouk
Al-Otaibi (scoring his 5th and 6th goals).
Brazil
would score two more goals before halftime and would score four more goals in
the second half for a final score (8-2) with Ronaldinho scoring a hat trick.
Many observers believed Brazil’s second half performance was their best in the
entire Tournament.
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(August 1, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup,
Brazil 8-Saudi Arabia 2)
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On
August 3rd, USA defeated Saudi Arabia (2-0) in the third place match
to end the Tournament on a satisfactory note. The Americans’ highlight had been
the win over Germany, as well as hard contested matches vs. Brazil and Mexico.
Mexico
faced Brazil for the Final in Azteca on August 4th.
This
match would turn out to be the best match of the Tournament.
Mexico
would take a two-goal lead through Zepeda and Abundis, before Brazil pulled a
goal back before the end of the half through a Serginho penalty kick.
Blanco
had scored another goal that was unjustly ruled out as offside.
Brazil
would tie the score just two minutes into the second half through Roni.
Just
a few minutes later, Zepeda restored Mexico’s advantage and ten minutes later
Blanco scored Mexico’s fourth to give them a seemingly unassailable lead.
However,
just a minute later Ze Roberto pulled another goal back for Brazil.
Mexico
would have to hold on for nearly half an hour but they did and for the first
time a host Nation won the Confederations Cup.
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(August 4, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup,
Mexico 4-Brazil 3)
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Photo
From: FIFA Report- 1999 Mexico
(August 4, 1999, FIFA Confederations Cup,
Mexico 4-Brazil 3)
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While
Mexico were basking in the glory of winning a somewhat major Tournament, Brazil
and Germany reflected on their performances.
Brazil
played many matches that were average by their standards (save the second half
vs. Saudi Arabia). Their only excuse was the fact that they were a weakened
side without many regulars.
The
satisfactory note for Brazil was Ronaldinho. His displays confirmed his growing
reputation as Brazil’s star of the future.
Germany
looked the worst after a Tournament that they wished they had not participated
in.
They were also criticized after Lothar Matthaus failed to attend a
ceremony at the Azteca where he and former Mexican goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal
were to be honored for having taken part in five World Cups.
Germany
Manager Erich Ribbeck summed it up by stating, “We
came here to comply with the wishes of our Federation, who are seeking to
organize the next World Cup. I did not bring my best players.”
Despite the growing stature of this competition, it was still
regarded more as a nuisance by bigger Nations in an already bloated calendar.
FIFA had to find a solution to satisfy the calendar as well ensure
quality of participants to maintain the Competition.
References:
France
Football, Issue 2780 bis, July 23, 1999
France
Football, Issue 2781, July 27, 1999
France
Football, Issue 2781 bis, July 30, 1999
France
Football, Issue 2782, August 3, 1999
France
Football, Issue 2782 bis, August 6, 1999
FIFA
Report- 1999 Mexico
World
Soccer, September 1999
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