(Getty)

Japan were awarded a dubious penalty and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was booked for the painfully obvious non-foul pictured above. Keisuke Honda then scored from the penalty spot to give Japan a surprising 1-0 lead in the 21st minute and then Shinji Kagawa made it 2-0 in the 33rd minute with a great goal of his own. Italy eventually got a goal back with a Daniele De Rossi header off a corner kick in the 41st minute. But Buffon did not passively accept the referee decision that started this chain of events...

(@CassioS35)

Ahead of Japan's Confederations Cup Group A match against Italy, ESPN helpfully highlighted three stand-out players for the Asian Cup winners. Unfortunately, they spelled Shinji Kagawa's name as "Kawawa" in the corresponding graphic. One might think that making 26 appearances for Manchester United last season would be enough to achieve adequate name recognition to avoid such a mix-up, but apparently not.

Of course, as karmic payback for highlighting this mistake, I will probably inadvertently type out his name as "Benji Kahaha" at least once next season.

Previous fun with ESPN graphics: Arjen Robben plays for Portugal, Ashley Young is Paul Scholes and Retired Ronaldo is Cristiano Ronaldo

After scoring just three minutes into Brazil's first Confederations Cup group-stage match against Japan, Neymar decided to give Mexico a fighting chance and waited all the way until the ninth minute of the match to score his second goal of the tournament. Mexico's Francisco Rodriguez attempted to head clear a cross in the box, but he ended up delivering it right to Neymar, who put it past keeper Jose Corona without hesitation.

The goal added to an already intense atmosphere with thousands of Brazilians protesting outside the stadium. If the way Neymar has dealt with the pressure so far in this tournament is any indication, his first season with Barcelona should be entertaining. And hopefully surrounded by less police brutality.

UPDATE: Brazil won 2-0 after Neymar nutmegged a defender and set up Jo in the third minute of injury time. I think we have a frontrunner for the tournament's Golden Boot already.

David Beckham is back in China to resume his duties as the country's "global football ambassador" and it seems he's learned a few lessons from his past experiences in similar positions. For one thing, he isn't taking free kicks while wearing a suit anymore. And he's also figured out how to keep school kids from exposing his age-ravaged defending.

Playing against a group of Chinese children in front of a large crowd, Beckham made sure the kid with the ball didn't get past him by picking him up, putting him to one side and then taking the ball for himself (clearly this is a move that Zlatan Ibrahimovic taught him at PSG). Beckham was not booked for the clear foul.

This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.

Tuesday evening's AFC World Cup qualifier between South Korea and Iran ended with visiting Iran manager Carlos Queiroz pumping his fists, aggressively shouting and offering what a South Korean official called an "obscene gesture" at the rival bench, while locals showered the field with plastic water bottles and drink cans.

Thanks to a bad-tempered eight-month build-up, however, this match was never destined to be a genteel affair.

South Korea lost a fiesty qualifier to Iran in Tehran last October, but manager Choi Kang-Hee complained about extensive visa problems and poor training facilities on their trip. Subsequently, he promised to "make life painful" for Iran by offering a similar level of hospitality in the return fixture.

Carlos Queiroz called for an apology, but instead Kang-Hee gave the kind of response that sounds like it should have been given from an underground lair while stroking a cat:

It looks like Iran is nervous. When feeling burdened or chased after, you talk a lot

(Getty)

The Premier League fixture list for the 2013/14 season has been released and it seems the sadistic computer that spits it out is trying to get David Moyes sacked within his first five matches as Sir Alex Ferguson's replacement at Manchester United. Here's how the league champions open the season:

17 Aug Swansea City A
24 Aug Chelsea H
31 Aug Liverpool A
14 Sep Crystal Palace H
21 Sep Manchester City A

That's away to Capital One Cup winners Swansea on opening day followed by Chelsea with Jose Mourinho back in charge at home, then away to rivals Liverpool, home against newly promoted Crystal Palace and revamping runners-up Manchester City away to round it out. What did Moyes ever do to the fixture computer to deserve such an unfriendly start in his new job? Did he once try to use it to play solitaire while downloading virus-laden pornography and feature-length films in gif format?

Playing Man United's two biggest rivals and Chelsea within the first five matches could either embolden his

A 1-0 win against Honduras gives the United States three World Cup qualifier wins in June and makes a trip to Brazil next year almost certain. It was a largely frustrating match for the USA as they had a clear majority of possession (62 percent) and far more chances on goal (13 shots, 5 on target v six and one for Honduras), but the calls weren't going their way and the shots weren't finding the net. Until Jozy Altidore scored in the 73rd minute, giving him a goal in each of the last four games to match the team record.

As intoxicatingly entertaining as the USA's 2-0 win against Panama was, this performance was encouraging in different and just as important ways. Having already climbed to the top of the table, there were many points when complacency could have set in and had a destructive effect in the match against Honduras, who beat United States 2-1 in February. But they didn't let the frustration of failed scoring chances and missed handball calls break down their confidence and

Leonardo Bonucci in 2012 (left) and Lorenzo Insigne in 2013. (Getty)

Spain's reign of trophy plundering terror continued by beating Italy in the European U-21 Championship final to defend their title. The latest addition to Spain's silverware stockpile comes almost two weeks shy of the one-year anniversary of the Spain senior team's 4-0 win against Italy in the Euro 2012 final. The Italian U-21s fared a bit better, only losing 4-2, but a hat trick from Thiago and Spain scoring their last two goals from the penalty spot proved too much to overcome.

So where will it end? Spain are also in the midst of the Confederations Cup — one of the few trophies they haven't won yet. If they can take that, you have to imagine they would grow bored of repeats and branch out to other competitions. The World Series? Super Bowl? The Ashes? Ice Hockey World Championship? The vikings of tiki-taka will not relent until they possess a jug full of tears from every nation on the planet.