Confederations Cup

It's been pretty entertaining in Russia in this World Cup tune-up tournament.  The pre-tournament favorites all advanced to the semis.  Of the makeweights, Australia (Asia) gave a good account of themselves, drawing with Chile, but the rest did no better than expected.  Host Russia looked poor, New Zealand was hapless, and Cameroun did not impress.  Mexico sent a strong team and looked good even in their 1-4 semifinal loss to Germany, in which they went down two goals in the first seven minutes.  They had plenty of possession and made several good scoring chances, but their only goal was a very late long-range strike.  The other semi was just as much fun despite 120 scoreless minutes from Portugal and Chile.  The woodwork was hit but neither keeper was beaten until "kicks from the spot", and then only Rui Patricio was, as Chile executed Portugal with maximum efficiency, 3-0.  That's right, Claudio Bravo saved all three kicks.  They weren't great, but they weren't terrible either.  He read which way they were going, went early, and got two hands on the three strikes.  Alexis got Chile's third kick.  The final will be a replay of the 1-1 group game between the tournament's youngest team (Germany) and its oldest.  I'll be hoping for a Chilean win.