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...

i think the samba boys played to hastily and when they cant get possesion,they play rough and tough...not those ideal brazilian style

Argentina VS who is the final ar??

I just saw the Argentina VS Brazil match..

Ape la brazil... kena tapao 3-0..

when the finale,so sad Brazil already out,Argentina look will defend their gold

Argentina v Nigeria

Argentina Vs who at the finals??

When izit??

Argentina vs Nigeria on 23rd if i'm not mistaken. This wouldn't be easy for the argentinians as Nigeria is an hardworking warrior team.

but Argentina is better team with Riquelme, Mascherano, Messi, Aguero...i cant see them losing if they can beat brazil to 3-0

haha....brazil look like noob when facing argentina......hope argie win gold...

of coz they will.the spirit of Diego Armando Maradona with them...

they shouldn't be too confident about that.. anything can happen in football.. huhhuhuh

hope Nigeria will perform well against their better opponent, Argentina...African countries seems to do well in Olympic...European team can't match them..

at least it would be an interesting match to watch.. hope it'll be a good game with good fighting spirit:)

pick on argentina to get the gold.

How sure are you that Argentina will win gold this time around? I am really confident that they will be able to deliver the goods this year!

if they win, mascherano will be the 1st to win 2 gold medals in olympic..

2 gold medal?? u mean??

he won it last olympic....
so, winning again means he is the 1st and only player that won 2 olympic gold medals in football...

juz macherano?? how about messi and the others.. sorry coz i really dunno about last olympic:(

not sure leh...haha....maybe messi too? dunno...

I think it would be a 50-50 match..the nigeria is in great form so far..so i supposed the game would be even.Whoever lost concentration..they'l end up being bang from the other side

Hey, I would like to ask... What time & when is the match for Nigeria against Argentina?

Anybody knows?

argentina wins! messi, gago, aguero, garay, riquelme and many more stars. brazil lost their touch. dungaaaa. or is it dungu now? well, you decide.

12 pm beijing.. if i'm not mistaken:)

When izit?? what is the date?

tomorrow(friday) at 9pm maybe...
de maria!!!!

tomorrow.. 22 august.. you can check from olympic website for confirmation.. huhuhhu

Brazil are really starting to lose their touch

wah really hope argentina to win. match with brazil was not that interesting. hope final will be a great match

is going to be a great match...no doubt...Nigeria is very good in defending against great team... =)

yeah.. i hope so...

No longer king of samba...wander whether they will sack the coach again.

Sooner or later, they are going to sack their coach...

It's gonna be played at 7pm GMT+8 today.

is it malaysia time??

tomorrow is a Final... who is champion?

i go for argentina..

a bit information for you guyz...

belgium vs brazil (22 august, 7pm) bronze medal

argentina vs nigeria (23 august, 12pm) gold medal..

Nigeria should be able to put up a good fight for the game! Maybe Nigeria can repeat their act of winning the gold medal again!

aiseh afternoon ....the final...


ARG ftw.....

yup, the final game is 12pm...
coz it will be held at birdnest stadium...

btw, brazil won bronze after 3-0 againts belgium...
2 from jo and 1 from diego...

bronze is consolation for brazil...at least they got bronze than nothing...

gonna watch final game rite now:)

Argentina will win it for sure..Gold Medal for Argentina..

boring 1st half.. some long-range shots by Argentina but apart from that, nothing much else happening. the pitch condition is quite bad.

they use Naruto instrumental music for halftime..

Argentina should defeat Nigeria for the gold
We'll see how it goes !

yeah... looks like nigeria control the game until last 5 minitues.. but, good defensive side by nigeria.. marking messi and aguero

final match over yet? who takes the gold?

argentina won gold.. 1-0. forgettable match with nigeria very frustratingly bad finishing.

congrats to Arg

argentina won.. good second half:) nigeria lost with honour.. congrats to both team:)

Nigeria 0-1 Argentina

Mascherano is the only one to get 2 gold medals....new record...

Nigeria was great throughout the match in my opinion. A sudden breakthrough by Argentina won the game!

argentina is always good when it comes to the youth/younger squad

the player look really exhausted,i can imagine when play at 12noon

argentina under 23 and under 21 team is very good.....but their senior team not that good....i wonder why...

actually they always have a good team.. but its the same with other national team like england, german, spain, portugal, and others, they got no luck when its come into a competition.. but really strong squad on paper..

As expected, Argentina won.
But the heat was definitely getting to the players.
I heard it was 42 degrees on the pitch

bad n bore game played by Argentina..
anyway, congratulation to Argentina players..

Argentina always full with talent. Hopefully Argentina wil win World Cup again

12pm leh...sure hot la..luckily they din faint...

Lionel Messi of Argentina walks onto the pitch in the Men's Gold Medal football match between Nigeria and Argentina at the National Stadium on Day 15 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 23, 2008 in Beijing, China.
(Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images AsiaPac)






Ronaldinho of Brazil laughts whilst on the telephone as he waits to receive his bronze medal in the medal ceremony for the Men's Football at the National Stadium on Day 15 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 23, 2008 in Beijing, China.
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images AsiaPac)






Solomon Okoronkwo of Nigeria competes with Angel Di Maria of Argentina in the Men's Gold Medal football match between Nigeria and Argentina at the National Stadium on Day 15 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 23, 2008 in Beijing, China.
(Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images AsiaPac)






Diego Maradona of Argentina has his photo taken with the Nigerian team during the medal ceremony for the Men's Final between Nigeria and Argentina at the National Stadium on Day 15 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 23, 2008 in Beijing, China.
(Photo by None/Getty Images AsiaPac)






Diego Maradona of Argentina hugs Ronaldinho of Brazil during the medal ceremony for the Men's Football at the National Stadium on Day 15 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 23, 2008 in Beijing, China.
(Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images AsiaPac)






Sergio Aguero of Argentina takes on the Nigerian defense in the Men's Gold Medal football match between Nigeria and Argentina at the National Stadium on Day 15 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 23, 2008 in Beijing, China.
(Photo by Mark Dadswell/Getty Images AsiaPac)

Nice Pictures

should close this thread already... there's nothing to discuss anymore