Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics is being held in Beijing and several other cities in the People's Republic of China from 6 August to 23 August. Associations affiliated with FIFA are invited to send their full women's national teams and men's U-23 teams to participate. Men's teams are allowed to augment their squad with three players over the age of 23.

For these games, the men will compete in a 16-team tournament, and the women will compete in a 12-team tournament. Football preliminaries actually commence two days before the Opening Ceremony of the Games on 8 August.


http://en.beijing2008.cn/sports/football/


Result : http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/Sche...008-08-10.shtml

It's a great sport and you will find many flocking over to the stadium to catch a glimpse of the football stars. Messi and Ronaldinho to name a few! Both of them seemed to ease off the pressure by helping their teams to the next round.

ronaldinho needs to prove a point in this Olympic....he needs his form back...brazil beats NZ 5-0

Lionel Messi of Argentina and Ruben Zadkovich of Australia compete for the ball during Men's Group A match between Argentina and Australia on Day 2 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 10, 2008 in Tianjin, China.
(Photo by Photogamma/Getty Images AsiaPac)

It's sad to see China lose yesterday by 2 goals. The team were down to 9 men at the end of the game. There goes their chances of qualifying for the next round.

as of every tourney bet country, is there football chicks around? picture please

from what i can see this time football at beijing 2008 is all about one guy...Lionel Messi..

btw good football from Argentina and Brazil..

hidup lagi rupanya Riquelme..

Well a lot of talk about Lionel Messi but seriously I think there is more in him to be shown. He's not shown his full potential yet. Argentina seems to be struggling a bit as most teams they play will fall back defensively. Don't think they really have the key to unlock defences yet.

That's just my 2 cents.

Ifeanyi Chiejine of Nigeria attempts to cross the ball as Simone of Brazil closes in during the Women's First Round Group F match between Nigeria and Brazil at the Workers' Stadium on Day 4 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008 in Beijing, China.
(Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images AsiaPac)






New Zealand players perform the haka before the Women's Group G match between USA and New Zealand on Day 4 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008 in Shengyang, China.
(Photo by Koji Watanabe/Getty Images AsiaPac)






Jodi-Ann Robinson © of Canada is pursued by Caroline Seger (L) and Anna Paulson ® of Sweden during the Women's First Round Group E match between Sweden and Canada at the Workers' Stadium on Day 4 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008 in Beijing, China.
(Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images AsiaPac)






Solveig Gulbrandsen of Norway and Hiromi Ikeda ® of Japan compete for the ball during the Women's Group G match between Norway and Japan at the Shanghai Stadium on Day 4 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008 in Shanghai, China.
(Photo by Noriko Hayakusa/Getty Images AsiaPac)






Martina Franko of Canada is shadowed by Victoria Svensson of Sweden during the Women's First Round Group E match between Sweden and Canada at the Workers' Stadium on Day 4 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008 in Beijing, China.
(Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images AsiaPac)

There's an interesting game tonight where China vs Brazil. The Brazillian team has already qualified for the next round. The host on the other hand have yet to win a game. So far they manage a draw and a defeat. 2 red cards in their last game wasn't the thing that they wanted.

I wonder if Brazil will be fielding a second team and China pushing all out for a win or maybe a draw against Brazil which might be a great result for them.

Any comments?

Women football also..??

Come on u guys...

sometimes it's always fun to watch women play football

no offense to women but i find women football boring...
Not entertaining enough..in other words sien...

Anyway, i hope messi can do well...
And also the holland team..

watching women play really make me sleepy,i watch Germany vs Nigeria just for 10 minute,no skil.. no joga move,they just kick and run

Holland managed a win today but it came from the penalty spot. I would say that game was rather boring as both sides were not able to control the ball. Hmm. Even though Holland is through to the next round but I don't think they are medal contenders.

Quarterfinal Match-Ups:

D1 Italy
C2 Belgium

B1 Nigeria
A2 Côte d'Ivoire

---

C1 Brazil
D2 Cameroon

A1 Argentina
B2 Netherlands

The Argentina-Netherlands game will be pretty fun to watch. Italy have a great chance of making it to the finals if they beat Belgium and one of Nigeria/Côte d'Ivoire.

Ivory Coast would be the underdogs for this competition for sure. Their display of high work rate and possessing the self believe of 'Never Say Die' attitude makes them a favourite in my opinion.

My Prediction of the QuarterFinal

Italy
Ivory Coast

Brazil
Argentina

Olympics: Belgium book Italy date
Wednesday 13 August, 2008
Pierluigi Casiraghi’s Italy side will take on Belgium in the Olympic quarter-finals on Saturday.

The Azzurri fought out an ugly 0-0 draw with Cameroon earlier today to ensure that they ran out winners of Group D with seven points.

The result guaranteed that Italy wouldn’t have to face Brazil in the last eight, but Casiraghi’s side had to wait to find out who would come second in Group C.

While Brazil maintained their 100 per cent record by easing past hosts China 3-0, the crucial game was contested by Belgium and New Zealand in Shanghai.

Belgium, who were reduced to nine men in their 1-0 defeat against Brazil, beat New Zealand 1-0 courtesy of a goal from midfielder Faris Haroun and set up a date with the Italians on Saturday.

The New Zealanders' hopes of a comeback were severly dented by the dismissal of striker Daniel Ellensohn on the stroke of half-time.

Meanwhile, Napoli ace Ezequiel Lavezzi was on target for Argentina in their 2-0 win over Serbia and the Group A winners will now meet Holland.

Olympic quarter-finals draw:

Italy v Belgium
Nigeria v Ivory Coast
Brazil v Cameroon
Argentina v Holland

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/aug13l.html

watched brazil women play against jermany. quite entertain, brazil won 4-1.

arg 3-0 bra.....ARG FTW....they conquered the match lol...brazil play too cautious...