Gold for Argentina

The Olympic final between Argentina and Nigeria was not an entertaining match: in fact, it was one of the worse matches Argentina played in this tournament, and while Nigeria was tactically sound, and managed to control the deadly Argentinean strikers, the heat in the stadium in Beijing seemed overwhelming for both teams.
Nevertheless, Argentina wins gold for the second time in a row (on a fine goal by the Benfica player Angel Di Maria) and emerge as one of the favourites in the coming World Cup.
I have never hidden my outright preference for Argentina, and I am of course delighted! I have to thank the Nigerians for a great tournament, and must add that the three best teams got the medals in the Olypic games of Beijing:

Gold: Argentina
Silver: Nigeria
Bronze: Brazil

Congratulations and thank you to these teams!

Gold for the USA

In truth in football it is not always the best team that wins. And I mean "best" in the sense that it is not the team that plays the nicest football, that creates the most chances, that attacks the most, that plays the most entertaining.
This was exactly what happened in the Olympic women's final between Brazil and the USA. I think the USA did not have a shot on target until the 85th minute, while the Brazilians were constantly in possession and attacking.
Here though, I must also say another truth in football: the more clever defeats the more naive. One must respect the discipline and defensive tactics which did that the Brazilian ladies, in spite of overwhelming superiority in possession, never really got a great chance. The North American ladies thus fully deserved the gold ahead of the naive (and unlucky in the end!) Brazilians.

So congratulations to the USA for their gold medal!

That said, there is a deeper problem here for the sake of women's football.
I have before said that I do not find women's football too exciting: it is too mechanical and with too little flair. The Brazilian ladies have been the first to add flair to women's football, thus making it more entertaining to watch. But if teams that play like the USA did today continue winning, women's football will always be too boring to watch! With all due respect for the tactical prowess of their victory, it is more exciting to watch someone count grains of sand than to watch someone play like the US ladies did today!

Argentina in the Olympic final

I do not think that the game was played harshly: in fact, I feel that the Brazilian red cards were way too harsh! Nevertheless, the Argentinean victory was fully deserved in this semifinal between Argentina and Brazil which should have been the final.

3-0 for Argentina on two goals by Kun Agüero and one penalty by Juán Román Riquelme, and they are now ready to face Nigeria in a repeat of the Atlanta 1996 Olympic final, where the Nigerians ran away with a not entirely deserved victory.
But thank you to the wonderful Brazilians; I hope they win the bronze medal against the poor Belgians, and well... GO ARGENTINA!

Goodbye and thanks for nothing

Cameroun and Italy, in the first round of this Olympic tournament, played some of the most boring football ever, and now, both teams are out, in the quarterfinals: farewell to both, and thanks for nothing.

I did not see Italy lose 2-3 to Belgium, but I am happy they did: every time Italy is out in football it is a reason to be happy!

What I did see though, was Brazil's extra time 2-0 victory against a Cameroonian team who did not seem to have gone to China to kick a ball, but rather to kick the men. This should not surprise about Cameroun though: they have always played physically, bordering on the outright violent, and are one of the teams ever with most cards in the world cups. And today they lived up to their style: destructive and boring football, nothing to do with that so-called "Olympic spirit".
While Brazil was not impressive, very slow and lacked fighting, they did the whole world a favour by eliminating Cameroun. And I hope Cameroun doesn't come back to the Olympics.

Olympic quarterfinals

The first round of the Olympic football tournament is over without major surprises: Brazil and Argentina have lived up to their aspirations with three straight wins each, and are ready to the quarterfinals. It has not been amazing though: Brazil seems to have eased their way through Belgium, New Zealand and China, while Argentina had to fight a bit more against Ivory Coast and Serbia, but looking awfully strong nevertheless.
The three European teams in the quarterfinals, Belgium, Netherlands and Italy, have been efficient, but an absolute bore of the kind that makes one want to watch paint dry rather than them. In their last match, Italy and Cameroun played for the 0-0 draw that would take them both through in some of the worse football ever seen.
Not really Olympic spirit there.
Finally, besides Cameroun, we have two other African teams in the quarterfinals, Ivory Coast and Nigeria, who will in fact each other in an all-African quarterfinal.
As it is now, the four quarterfinals on Saturday are as follows:

• Argentina-Netherlands
• Ivory Coast-Nigeria
• Brazil-Cameroun
• Italy-Belgium

I make no discrestion that I want an Argentina-Brazil final: it would be best for the Olympics and for football fans in general.

PS...

On a completely different note, I am missing some countries from the Olympics: Western Sahara, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar and Tibet.

Cheers to them, because they belong in the Olympics!

2008 Olympics

The football tournament has started and today I watched my first match: Brazil destroyed New Zealand 5-0, and one could really see the different levels! Brazil was sooooo superior to New Zealand that it was almost sad! And Ronaldinho played excellently, although the background was a poor New Zealand side.
I guess that is one of the down-sides of the Olympics, even more than world cups (where it nevertheless happens as well): too many teams of a very low level...
So until now, the predictions are holding: Brazil and Argentina (with an incredible Messi) have won both their games until now.

On a different note, I also watched a woman's game: the USA defeated Japan. I don't have much positive to say; the game was a bore, and the atmosphere was irritated by continued high-pitch screams throughout the match....

I need a life.