Brazil win Group A after winning a six goal thriller against Italy. Dante's opener before half-time was initially cancelled out by Emanuele Giaccherini before another great finish from Neymar put the hosts back in front. Fred finished the game off by scoring a goal either side of Giorgio Chiellini's second for Italy. Meanwhile in the battle of pride, two goals for Javier Hernandez was enough for Mexico to claim third place despite Shinji Okazaki scoring late on for Japan.
Japan did start the better in the other game as Shinji Kagawa had a great chance to give them the lead after five minutes before Okazaki had a goal ruled out for offside. Keisuke Honda continued to perform well as he tries to gain a free transfer, but his effort was stopped by Guillermo Ochoa. But Mexico actually came the closest late on in the first half when Andres Guardado headed his effort against the post.
Just like in the their second game, Italy were second best and made an early tactical substitute, it was Giaccherini for Riccardo Montolivo. Brazil had the only chances early on, but nothing really to trouble Gianluigi Buffon. But the first half in the group decider was more about injuries than chances at goal. Ignazio Abate had to go off with a dislocated shoulder after a collision with Neymar, for which he got booked. David Luiz joined Abate by getting stretchered off after suffering a knock earlier in the game that he couldn't recover from. But the fans were given something to cheer in first half injury time when a Neymar free-kick was headed on by Fred. Buffon did manage to parry the effort, but only to Bayern Munich's Dante who finished it off.
The second halves were a lot more entertaining than their firsts and began after just nine minutes in Belo Horizonte as Hernandez broke the deadlock for Mexico. The Manchester United front man managed to get to Guardado's cross to tap it home.
Back in Salvador, Italy had levelled just six minutes in to the half. Mario Balotelli produced a great bit of skill to back heel the ball in to the path of Giaccherini down the wing. The striker cuts in and managed to smash the ball in to the corner. But parity only lasted for four minutes as Neymar scored his third goal of the tournament with a stunning free-kick in to the corner that Buffon had no chance with, making it three fantastic goals in three games.
Hernandez scored his second on 66-minutes when he managed to head Hiram Mier's flick on to all but succumb Japan to fourth place in the group. Japan did pull one back four minutes from the end when Okazaki rushed in to finish off a cross from short range. Hernandez did have the chance to put the game beyond all doubt when he was brought down in the box by Atsuto Uchida, but his subsequent penalty was saved before Hernandez hit the crossbar with his rebound. Mexico did mange to hold on though to finish third in the group.
Fred made it 3-1 in the same minute in the other game. Marcelo managed to find a great floating ball for Fred to chest down. The striker then out-muscled Chiellini before smashing his effort in to the roof of the net.
Italy managed to make it 3-2 on 71-minutes in bizarre circumstances. It came from a corner but the referee seemed to blow for a penalty for a foul on Balotelli. Just after the whistle had gone, Chiellini had put the ball in the net and, after a lot of deliberation, the referee actually decided that the goal should stand even though the ball had gone dead. Although if he had played advantage in the first place, there would have been no problem.
Christian Maggio almost levelled for Italy, but his header from a corner hit the crossbar and stayed out. Top spot was then guaranteed two minutes before the end when the great man Buffon again failed to cover himself in an glory. It came from a Marcelo shot which was only parried by the keeper and in to the path of Fred who gratefully slotted the ball home for his second of the match. Final table:
1. Brazil 9
2. Italy 6
3. Mexico 3
4. Japan 0
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