Neymar, a 20-year-old emerging superstar from Brazil, scored his fourth goal in five Confederations Cup games Sunday, helping the Brazilians throttle favored Spain 3-0 in the Conderations Cup Final. After the Brazil win, Neymar was awarded the Golden Ball, one of soccer's most prestigious prizes.
Neymar, who caused a stir with his move to FC Barcelona from Santos, has been the subject of doubters who discounted his brilliance due to the perceived lower level of competition he faced on a consistent basis.
He dominated the Confederations Cup, however, scoring four goals and racking up even more assists, as well as netting a score against Spain's elite group of players and historically great goalkeeper, Iker Casillas.
Neymar had help, of course, from his teammate Fred who netted two goals himself in the shocking rout. Spain's coach Vicente Del Bosque spoke about Brazil's dominant performance following the match.
"We had a bit of bad luck in the opening minutes of each half but I don't want to make any excuses, they were better and that's that," Del Bosque said. "They possibly had a bit more energy than us. Instead of being 1-1 we went 2-0 down in the last moments of the first half. But I don't think that right now we can analyze details. They were superior and that's it."
Brazil has not lost an international match at Maracana Stadium since the World Cup Final in 1950 against Uruguay, and although Spain seemed like it had the team to finally break through, Brazil's energy carried them early.
Fred scored an incredible goal to kickstart the scoring, as he fired a shot over the head of Casillas while laying on the turf. Then, Spain missed a one-on-one opportunity toward the end of the first half, which was followed by Neymar's strike which sapped the life out of Spain.
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