SALVADOR, Brazil -- Neymar scored his third goal in three matches and Fred added two others as Brazil showed commanding form to defeat Italy 4-2 and finish top of Group A of the Confederations Cup on Saturday. Substitute defender Dante opened the scoring from close range in first-half injury time, but Italy equalized through Emanuele Giaccherinis swift breakaway in the 51st. Dante looked just offside for his goal. Neymar scored in the 55th with a well-placed free kick shot into the top corner of the net as Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon could only watch, and Fred added to the lead from inside the area in the 66th before Italy pulled closer again with a Giorgio Chiellini goal in the 71st. Brazil was furious with Uzbek referee Ravshan Irmatov, who appeared to blow for an Italy penalty but changed his mind and gave a goal when it went in the net a second or so later. Italy almost equalized when an 80th-minute header by Christian Maggio exploded off the crossbar, and Mario Balotelli just missed with a right-footed shot a few minutes later, but Fred sealed the victory from a Buffon parry in the 89th, another goal that looked offside. Brazil ended with nine points, three more than the Italians. Mexico and Japan had already been eliminated. Brazil needed at least a draw to win the group and likely avoid a matchup with World Cup champion Spain, which leads Group B. "Brazil is ready for the semifinal," Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said. "Weve made it with a team with good technical and tactical quality and with a lot of confidence." Italy coach Cesare Prandelli was pleased with some of his teams performance. "In the second half we played great. Im very pleased with what I saw, the way we reacted and had desire to attack deep. Of course, against squads like these you always risk something and if you make a mistake you let in a goal. "Matches like these make you grow and if we face Spain well try to play our game," he said. The result keeps Italy winless against Brazil in 30 years, since the second round of the 1982 World Cup in Spain. In six matches since, Brazil has won four and there were two draws. Brazil had also beaten Italy 3-0 the group stage of the 2009 Confederations Cup, when it eventually won its second-straight title -- and third overall -- in the warm-up competition. Brazil hasnt won any significant title since then. The teams had met only four times since the 1994 World Cup final in the United States, with two victories by Brazil and two draws, including a 2-2 result earlier this year. It was the first time the teams played in Brazil. Brazil took control in the first few minutes but it didnt take long before Italy levelled the match at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador. "We feared Brazil a little in the first half and you cant do that against a team like Brazil," Prandelli said. "In the second half we played in a different way. We showed personality and we are satisfied with how the team reacted. Im happy with the way the team fought back and tried to make it difficult for Brazil." Dante, who replaced injured starting defender David Luiz in the 34th, put Brazil ahead with a left-footed shot off a rebound from a difficult save by Buffon following a header by striker Fred. Buffon dived to his left to make the stop, but Dante was in position to sidefoot the ball into the net. Dante appeared to be narrowly offside after Freds header from the free kick taken by Neymar. Italy equalized with Giaccherinis powerful shot into the far corner after receiving an acrobatic pass by Balotelli as he was hit by Dante outside the area. Giaccherini had come on in the 26th to replace injured midfielder Riccardo Montolivo. Neymar found the net from the free kick after he was fouled just outside the box following a nice run past Italian defenders. Buffon began going to his right and couldnt get back after Neymar fired the shot away from the wall instead of going over it. "Neymar can be decisive and thats what happened with the free kick," Scolari said. "He had many good quality opportunities but the key thing was when he realized Buffon was taking a step to the side. Only those geniuses who have a notion of what is happening in the match can do that." Neymar was replaced in the 69th to a standing ovation by the nearly 50,000 fans packing the Arena Fonte Nova. The recently signed Barcelona player was chosen the man of the match for the third match in a row. Fred took advantage of a long pass by Marcelo and scored his first goal with a firm left-footed shot into the top of the net after battling with Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini inside the area. Chiellini pulled Italy closer with a shot from near the penalty spot after a corner kick taken by Antonio Candreva, and after the missed chances by Maggio and Balotelli, Fred found the net again off the rebound of Buffons save after a shot by Marcelo in a breakaway. Italy also lost Ignazio Abate because of an injury just 30 minutes into the match. The teams started without some of their most important players. Italy couldnt count on midfielder Andrea Pirlo because of a strained right leg muscle, while Brazil was without defensive midfielder Paulinho because of a left ankle sprain. The Italians also missed Daniele De Rossi, who was suspended with two yellow cards. Thomas Muller Jersey . - Derek Wolfe says hes finally healthy after suffering a seizure in November that doctors now believe was related to the spinal cord injury he suffered in the preseason. Meritan Shabani Jersey . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. http://www.fcmunichpro.com/Kids-Manuel-Neuer-Jersey/ . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. Sagbo did well to control Sone Alukos right cross and fire past Brighton goalkeeper Peter Brezovan. Aluko was making his first start in four months after recovering from an Achilles injury. Niklas Sule Jersey . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. Kingsley Coman Jersey .Y. -- Bills receiver Stevie Johnson has a bone to pick with the NFL schedule maker. LOUDON, N.H. -- Jimmie Johnson felt as if Christmas came early. Martin Truex Jr. felt as if he earned a little bit of integrity.When NASCAR decided Wednesday not to penalize the drivers for their cars failing postrace inspection Sunday at Chicagoland, they obviously were pleased with being given a pass.Both faced 10-point penalties, with the penalty having a more immediate impact on Johnson because he finished 12th and would have dropped from eighth to 12th in the standings, affecting his ability to remain in the championship hunt. Truex won the race, and the penalty would have been meaningless unless he had already been eliminated from the championship.NASCAR officials said Wednesday that the penalty impact wasnt fair across the board, and it eliminated the rules that resulted in those penalties. Instead of having three levels of how much a cars rear alignment can be off, NASCAR has just one with a harsh penalty of 35 points, a three-race crew-chief suspension and a $65,000 fine. The 10-point and 15-point tiers are a thing of the past -- retroactively.The NASCAR decision wasnt universally applauded, especially for the retroactive portion. Ryan Newman had been penalized a few weeks earlier, making his prospects for getting into the Chase quite dim at Richmond. Other drivers felt it was unfair to those who passed postrace tech at Chicagoland for having to run under a different set of rules than that those NASCAR enforced.I dont know whats right. I dont know whats fair, Johnson said Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. I was taking my lumps and going on with my business and then kind of Christmas showed up in September.It was unexpected, but happy they clearly saw the 78 and mine wasnt a fair situation.Truex felt a little different. He didnt feel relief as much as maybe getting a little bit of his good reputation back.It kind of taints your win, he said. You dont want people to think youre winning races by what they call cheating.But heres the deal. The car that led the most laps (Johnson) and the car that won the race (Truex) both were outside the NASCAR tolerances. Truex said his violation was ten-thousandths of an inch. Johnson said his was off by four-thousandths.People say, Their car was illegal, Truex said. That could mean a million things. It could have been something that was worth three-tenths of a second or it could be something that means absolutely nothing.In this case, it was absolutely nothing. But aa lot of people dont understand that.dddddddddddd.Actually, a lot of people even in the garage would dispute that. They work for every millisecond.Im sure directionally it was an advantage -- everybody will take a hundredth of a degree or a hundredth of an inch they can get, Johnson said. I think we were four-thousandths [of an inch] over.I dont know how much of an advantage you can get in four-thousandths. Thats awfully, awfully small, but were in a world now where its black and white.Truex said at Kansas earlier this year, he had the fastest car in practice but his car after practice was far outside the tolerance. The team fixed the issue and still won the pole.Everybody wants as much as they can get, but is ten-thousandths worth thousandths of a second? Truex said. I cant tell you. It depends on the race track and a lot of other things.One thing that will help perception, Truex said, is NASCARs putting all Chase cars through postrace measurement. It typically would take the top-five cars and any others at its choosing (which NASCAR calls the random, though it doesnt have to be picked randomly). Johnson was a random selection at Chicagoland.Sending all the Chase cars through is 100 percent the right thing to do, Truex said. The guy that finishes sixth doesnt even get checked, [and] he could have been off further than the guy who won the race.If were going nitpick like that, you need to put them all through there.Truexs team said his car failed because it was hit by Kevin Harvick during the race. After the race, Truex said he thought it was unintentional. Truex has talked with Harvick, and Harvick apparently thought Truex had hit him first.Well move on and well race like we always have -- very hard but always clean, Truex said. We agreed it was a racing deal, heat of the battle stuff.I was mad and I didnt know he was mad also. He thought I ran into him. Im not sure honestly. I dont really care at this point.All is good in Truexs world. And all is better in Johnsons world than it could have been.That is the last thing I expected to hear, Johnson said about the NASCAR decision. At the time after the race, I felt like the penalties that us and the 78 had just didnt feel fair.But I knew what the rules were, I knew we were out of the spec on the tolerances so I just took it for what it was. Cheap Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys China Nike NFL Jerseys China Discount NFL Jerseys Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Wholesale China NFL Gear Stitched Jerseys Discount Jerseys Cheap NFL T-shirts Cheap Jerseys 2019 Black China NFL Jerseys Discount NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys 2020 ' ' '