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Mexico upset Brazil to reach semis; Japan edge Greece
Mexico sealed a well-earned place in the Confederations Cup semi-finals after a 1-0 win over Brazil in an incident-packed Group B encounter in front of a sell-out crowd.
Jared Borgetti's second half goal put Ricardo Lavolpe's side on six points and with only one group game left the CONCACAF champions are assured a place in the last four against either Germany or Argentina. Brazil must now beat Japan in Cologne on Wednesday to guarantee their semi-final spot and prevent an embarrassing first round exit for the second successive Confed Cup. "Our top priority is to beat Japan and make it into the next round," said Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira who singled out Mexico's defence as the key to the defeat. "It doesn't matter how much ability you have - how many Ronaldinhos and Robinhos are in your team, if your opponents can defend like that and penetrate it's going to be tough to get a result. "Mexico were really strong on this body to body, hand to hand marking. "It's not a disaster." This was Mexico's 20th game unbeaten - the last time they tasted defeat was ironically against Brazil in the Copa America last year. For Ricardo Lavolpe it showed his team were coming of age 12 months before the World Cup. "I've been coach now for three years and it's satisfying to see how we're growing and able to beat the good teams," said the Argentina-born manager. "The physical effort from my players was immense and it all worked out." Brazil, beaten by Mexico in the 1999 Confed Cup final, dominated early but the Mexican defence held strong before the match descended into a B-movie farce. It all started on the half hour mark when Mexico, who next play under-performing Greece, were awarded a penalty after Borgetti was brought down by Brazil captain Roque Junior in the box. Looking to the heavens Borgetti stepped up to place the spot kick in the back of Dida's net, but to his disgust Italian referee Roberto Rosetti made him take it again having spotted an overly eager Jose Fonseca illegally enter the penalty area. Borgetti's second attempt hit the cross bar but the 31-year-old Pachuca striker was handed a third attempt, this time after Brazil's Emerson went beyond the pale. Another look skywards and Borgetti struck high and to the right only for Dida to save - one out of three in this case just wasn't good enough. A sigh of relief rang out into the Hannover night from the drum-banging Samba supporters which must have reached the airship keeping watch on proceedings high over the stadium. The capacity crowd which included German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder were treated to one further moment of high drama in first-half injury time when after a goalmouth scramble Adriano was handed a gilt-edged chance to put Brazil ahead at close range only for his shot to head high and wide. It was seemingly a night for illegal incursions for after the penalty pandemonium the second half was only three minutes old when five security guards were needed to catch a supporter on the pitch. Then on 59 minutes Borgetti was looking skyward again, this time in delight after heading in off a corner from the right to give Mexico the lead and ultimately the three points. Adriano had the ball in the back of the tireless Oswaldo Sanchez' net in the 68th minute but his joy was shortlived after the Inter Milan attacker's effort was disallowed for a foul. With Parreira prowling the touchline on his 100th match as the South American giants' coach Brazil peppered the Mexican goal but this just wasn't their night. For Santos, whose heroics in snuffing out Brazil's attacks earned him the man of the match award, the result proved Mexico were now a force to be reckoned with on the world stage. "This shows that our football is very strong. Brazil have all these players based in Europe but this performance shows we could alspo be playing there too."
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