Not getting any easier

U.S., Brazil look to bounce back at Confed Cup

Danny Califf is surrounded by Ahmet Yildirim (13), Tuncay Sanli and Okan Yilmaz. AP

SAINT-ETIENNE, France (AP) -- After opening the Confederations Cup with a loss to the third-place team from last year's World Cup, the United States faces an even greater challenge.

"We did not play well today," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said Thursday night after Turkey's 2-1 win. "Hopefully, we can regroup and be ready for Brazil."

The world champions will be eager for redemption after they were upset 1-0 by Cameroon in the opener on Thursday.

Arena plans many lineup changes for Saturday's game against the Brazilians in Lyon. The lineup he fielded against the Turks failed to click.

"We played pretty poorly, probably didn't deserve to win," said Landon Donovan, who fed DaMarcus Beasley for the U.S. goal.

The United States, which dropped to 5-2-1 this year, has lost eight straight in Europe since beating Austria in April 1998, and 13 of 14 over the past decade, including its 0-3 washout at the 1998 World Cup in France.

Brazilians fear U.S. SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Brazilians fear their team will struggle to beat the United States after losing 1-0 to Cameroon in their first match of the Confederations Cup Thursday. The world champions' performance against Cameroon was "mediocre and sleepy" and they deserved to lose, ranted local newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo. "With a bureaucratic and scared performance, the Brazilian team made an awful impression," said another newspaper, O Globo. The match was played in the Stade de France stadium in Paris where Brazil famously lost the World Cup final to the French in 1998. Many were quick to draw comparisons between that match and Thursday's fiasco. "Brazil was again haunted by the ghosts that paralyzed them five years ago," O Estado said. There wasn't much praise for the Cameroon side in what was roundly described as a poor match. But Brazilians acknowledged the Cameroon defense was sturdy, their counterattacks were fast, and many admitted the Africans deserved to win.

Many in European soccer aren't convinced the Americans have joined the world's elite, and there was little in Thursday's performance that would change that attitude.

"I thought over 90 minutes Turkey was the better team," Arena said. "We had a bunch of players with subpar performances and you can't get away with that. You like to see in these type of games, on a given day, two or three players aren't playing their best, but today it was five or six players, and that impacted us."

Both teams were trying to show their performances at last year's World Cup were not flukes. Turkey finished third in its first appearance since 1954, and the Americans advanced to the quarterfinals, their best showing since 1930.

"In my opinion, we should have won this game by a bigger margin than 2-1," Turkey coach Senol Gunes said through a translator.

The game was played before a crowd of 16,944, just less than half the capacity of Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. Most were Turkish fans in the end zones, many of whom whistled during The Star-Spangled Banner and whenever the Americans advanced the ball.

"Even when we play at home, it's the same thing," said Beasley, referring to times when opposing fans predominate at U.S. stadiums. "That doesn't bother us."

U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard also spent part of the game dodging bottles thrown by Turkish fans behind his goal.

Brazil fighting for survival

It is hardly a surprise that the United States has its back to the wall after the opening game in the Confederations Cup.

But Brazil?

After Cameroon shocked Brazil 1-0 Thursday, it left the South Americans to stave off elimination.

The pressure is on Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira.

"We knew coming in that against such a team, victory in the first game was essential," Parreira said.

Yet the Brazilians never looked eager enough to win.

Ronaldinho, the only R playing from the famed "Triple R" attack with Ronaldo and Rivaldo, sometimes looked sullen and could not lift an experimental team past the African champions.

"We have to win our next two games," Ronaldinho said. "The next match will be a first final for us. If we don't win, it'll be difficult to reach the next phase."

The same kind of urgency is heard in the U.S. camp.

Much like the Brazilians, Arena is trying out some new players, but producing the same kind of unsatisfactory results.

What makes planning more difficult is the fast pace of a game every two days, making it tough for a coach to stick with the preferred lineup.

Parreira had seen the Confederations Cup as a testing ground for new talent, yet now he has to think about winning only, since Brazilians don't take to losing anytime.

The pairing of Ronaldinho and 21-year-old Parma striker Adriano didn't work out, forcing Brazil back to the drawing board.

Ready to make amends

Brazil will need to come out fighting against the United States on if it is to avoid an embarrassing exit.

Thursday's surprise defeat has left coach Carlos Alberto Parreira with few options if his mainly second-string side are to stay in the eight-nation tournament.

First among the tasks will be to bolster a midfield that started well under industrious skipper Emerson, but then progressively lost the plot in the second half against the combative African champions.

Parreira will also be disappointed that Samuel Eto'o's stunning match-winner came from a simple punt up field that baffled defender Lucio and allowed the Cameroon striker time to plant a dipping shot in the Brazil net from 20 meters.

At the other end, Ronaldinho, who plays his club football for Paris St Germain, and Adriano were too often found toothless when Brazil needed bite going forward.

Consolation for Parreira, though, will come in three forms.

Being only the first match of the tournament, there is still time to repair wounded pride against the Americans and then against Turkey on Monday in St Etienne.

Added to that, Bruce Arena's side -- outclassed by the Turks in a loss that was not reflected in the 2-1 scoreline -- was not expected to pose the same threat as Wilfried Schaefer's Cameroon.

Schaefer has brought a particularly strong squad to France, with Thursday's side comprising five members of their African Nations Cup winning team from 2002 -- including Eto'o, midfielder Geremi and skipper Rigobert Song at the back.

The third source of consolation for the Brazil boss is that this tournament is, after all, only the Confederations Cup and he is without both the glamour and talents of Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos and Cafu -- among others.

"Now we know that we will have to win our next two games if we want to have the chance to play the final," Parreira said stoically. "We lost [Thursday], but we don't give anything up."

 

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Both the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.