Brazil beats Argentina 3-0

It didn't take long to see that this was a different Brazilian team than the one that had played a mostly lacklustre competition. Brazil started the final against the powerful Argentines taking some chances in attack, and patiently controlling the ball in midfield. Before the game was five minutes old, Julio Baptista received the ball inside the penalty box on the left wing, quickly cutting it towards the centre of the pitch past an opponent, and then perfectly placing it to the left of goalkeeper Abbondazieri.

Argentina couldn't create much, with the Brazilians crowding the midfield and stopping creative Riquelme with fouls whenever he tried to take more than a few steps with the ball. But the white-and-blues slowly tried to move forward, and almost tied the game in the 10th minute, when Riquelme took a great shot from 15 metres to hit the right post of the goal guarded by Doni. The Argentines seemed to patiently wait for their chances, which would definitely arise later in the game.

Or so they thought. Brazil still managed to create a few scoring opportunities of its own, and in one of those chances, defender Ayala deflected a cross from the right wing into his own net, in the 41st minute, to make it 2-0 for the defending champions. Argentina lost its patience, and came back to the second half desperately trying to tie the game.

With Argentina going forward and leaving more spaces back on defence, Brazil waited for the right opportunities to create a few chances in counterattacks. A two-goal lead was not enough to guarantee any kind of relief though, since everyone on the team knew how dangerously a 2-0 lead could turn around late in a game. In the 69th minute, Robinho found Vagner Love, who quickly moved up the field and passed to Daniel Alves on the right side of the penalty box. Alves shot the ball across the box into the lower right corner of Abbodanzieri's goal, and the game was all but over.

As Brazilians celebrated during the last few minutes of the game, Argentina was left to wonder how it lost yet again in a competition final, after dominating most of the tournament with clearly the best football of all competitors. For Brazil, it didn't matter, as a mostly discredited team rose to the occasion and beat their arch-rivals with an unquestionable 3-0 win.