Confederations Cup 2013 Predictions: Projecting Winners of Each Semi-final

The 2013 Confederations Cup has reached the semi-finals stage, and so far the tournament has produced few surprises.

Hosts Brazil have cruised, topping their group with three wins.

Italy did what Italy does (i.e., just enough) and scraped through with the narrow wins over Mexico and Japan before conceding the top spot in Group B with a 4-2 loss to Brazil in their final fixture.

Meanwhile, in Group A, Spain dominated all their matches to proceed to the semis at a canter, while Uruguay edged Nigeria for second spot thanks to a hard-earned 2-1 win when those two sides met.

There are clear favorites in each of the semi-finals, but how likely are we to see the competition's first shocking result?

Brazil vs. Uruguay

In the first semi, South America's glamour boys Brazil take on the continental champions and renowned tough guys, Uruguay.

Brazil are the clear favorites here for the simple reason that they are playing the better football at present.

Home advantage also helps, but even if these sides were to meet at a neutral venue, on current form, Neymar and his mates would be expected to overcome the struggling Uruguayans.

The "Celestes" have not impressed in their World Cup qualifying campaign and were completely outplayed for long stretches of their match against Spain in the group stages.

Brazil, meanwhile, appear to have overcome some patchy form of their own to notch wins against Japan (3-0), Mexico (2-0) and Italy (4-2).

Clashes between two South America heavy hitters always have the air of a derby match about them, however. Uruguay are a team who will be primed to take advantage if Brazil show signs of fallibility, so this is not a complete foregone conclusion.

Prediction

If this match goes into the second half scoreless, Uruguay will begin to fancy their chances of causing a boil-over. But Brazil have shown an ability to net early goals during this tournament, and it's easy to see that happening again before their opponents get settled into siege mode.

From there, the Brazilians are good enough to control proceedings and threaten on the counterattack.

Brazil 2 - 0 Uruguay

Spain vs. Italy

Italy could lay claim to being one of the top five or six sides in world football at the moment.

Since Cesare Prandelli took over coaching duties following a disastrous 2010 World Cup for the "Azzurri," he has done extremely well to revitalize the side by injecting new blood, getting the best out of the mercurial Mario Balotelli and encouraging a more attacking brand of football.

The Italians shone at the European Championships in 2012, where they surprised many to reach the final 

Then they played Spain and were eviscerated 4-0.

And it is hard to see how they have improved enough since then to reverse such a comprehensive result.

Despite regular proclamations that the era of Spanish dominance is coming to an end, Xavi and Co. will retain their status as the best team on the planet until someone else manages to prove otherwise.

Italy are very good, but they don't have the weapons to surprise Spain, especially with the news that the joker in their pack, Balotelli, has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a thigh injury.

To tell this story in a completely different way, if we were to compare football sides to Amazon-dwelling predators, Italy would be a crocodile and Spain a giant anaconda. 

Sure, the crocodile is one of the most lethal animals in the river, and will chomp up just about every other creature who tries to challenge him, but once Spain the anaconda gets hold of you, sharp teeth and powerful tail become obsolete and ineffectual as your life is slowly squeezed away by the master suffocator.

Prediction

Labored metaphors will abound as Spain crush the crocodile, sorry, Italy, into a 90-minute slow death.

Spain 2 - 0 Italy