Grading all 8 of the Confederations Cup teams after the group stage

The Confederations Cup semifinals are set, with Portugal taking on Chile Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET on FS1, and Mexico going head to head with Germany on Thursday at 2 p.m. on FS2. Before we got to this point though, eight teams battled over three matches in hopes of making it out of the group stages. How did each of our original eight contestants fare over the tournament?

In front of their home fans, a year out of the World Cup, Russia simply didn't do anything to impress. While it's true, they were missing key players like Alan Dzagoev and Artyom Dzyuba, Russia's inexperienced side didn't make much of an impact on the tournament at all aside from beating a weak New Zealand, and fulfilling their role as hosts. There were a few positives, especially with some of the young players like Aleksandr Golovin that have recently come into the team, but there's a lot of work to do ahead of next year's tournament, when a group stage exit will not go over well.

With an extremely inexperienced team, this tournament mainly served as vital experience for New Zealand as they keep pressing towards a berth in the 2018 World Cup. They were hoping to do more than just make up the numbers, but with zero points, just one goal scored, and eight conceded, that's all that they did. Russia's tournament, not good but certainly better than the Kiwis, showed how far New Zealand have to go just to get to take a small step up.

Cameroon's AFCON-winning team came into this tournament with a huge question mark -- their ability to score goals. aAnd they exit the competition with an even bigger worry in that regard.

The Indomitable Lions were awful in front of goal in Russia, and left with just two strikes to their name. Fabrice Ondoa's heroics in goal and Christian Bassogog's flashes of brilliance down the right side were bright points for the Cameroonians, but if they can't sort out their issues in front of goal they might not be back in Russia next year. 

On paper, Australia were the worst team in their group of Germany, Chile and Cameroon. They weren't able to progress, but they still managed to pick up two points and grab two goals against the Germans in an exciting 3-2 loss. The Aussies definitely weren't the most exciting team in the tournament, but they looked competent enough to call their time in Russia a success and something to build on. Most importantly, they improved throughout and leave the Confederations Cup as a much better team than the team that started it.

Juan Carlos Osorio's Mexico haven't been perfect, but they've gotten the job done so far. They passed the first real test with the draw against Portugal, and Osorio's rotation hasn't seemed to have hurt the team. At least not when it comes to getting results. They've looked good throughout with the exception of a lackluster showing against New Zealand, and cruised through to the next round, but the biggest exam yet comes against Germany in the semifinals.

We've seen all of Chile's strengths and weaknesses this tournament. Their hectic, whirling interchanges make them a nightmare for opponents to deal with, but their organization has gone lacking in key moments and it's hurt them in games against both Germany and Australia. Still, they did exactly as expected by progressing to the semifinals, and they're well matched with Portugal. 

Portugal have done just about everything we've expected them to so far in Russia. They played out a fantastic 2-2 draw with Mexico in the biggest test of the group stage, then pushed past Russia 1-0 to set up an easy 4-0 win in the final match, assuring top spot in Group A. They've looked solid so far, and showed a real cutting edge against New Zealand, so there isn't too much more we could ask for from the European champs. 

Germany brought a "B" team to this tournament, but they've been top of the class in Confederations Cup so far. Despite struggling at times, they got past Australia in their first match, then played out an exciting draw with Chile. They then cruised past Cameroon in the final match of the group stage, and they just about look like favorites as we move in to the semis. They're improving with each match, and that's all Germany fans can ask for, especially with the team Joachim Loew brought.