Brazil are second-favourites to win the Gold medal in the men’s football at the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing after they eased to the top of the standings in Group C. Victories in their three group matches meant they advanced to the quarter-finals in a storming fashion. The 2007 South American Youth Championship victors eased past the hosts China 3-0 in their final match and they will now face Cameroon, who finished runners-up in Group D behind Italy. Favourites Argentina progressed in similar fashion as they next encounter Netherlands.
The third match day saw the tournament’s latter stages take shape as Argentina, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Netherlands, Brazil, Belgium, Italy and Cameroon booked their place in the last eight. The surviving nations from the group stages will now compete in a knock-out round with a position in the semi-finals at stake.
The likelihood of the gold medal being awarded to a South American country is rapidly increasing after Argentina topped Group A with complete ease. A converted penalty from Napoli forward Lavezzi and a goal by River Plate’s Buonanotte allowed Argentina to be sure of their win over Serbia. They will face tougher opposition in the form of the 2007 UEFA U-21 Championship victors Netherlands, who themselves will hope for a more productive tournament. Ivory Coast secured their place by beating Australia 1-0 due to Kalou’s second goal of the competition.
An all-African quarter-final was set-up between Nigeria and Ivory Coast. The former proceed after remaining unbeaten in Group B and claiming 7 points with wins over USA and Japan and a draw against Netherlands. USA were in a favourable situation to oust Netherlands from the top two positions but defeat to Nigeria and a Dutch triumph over pointless Japan ended their Olympic dream.
Brazil went into the final Group C match with the confidence of knowing that they had already qualified, but nevertheless overcame China 3-0 to finish off any lingering hopes of the home nation progressing. Fluminense’s in-form midfielder Thiago Neves struck twice in the final 21 minutes following Diego’s opener. The triumph meant that Brazil were rewarded with a more favourable draw in the quarter-finals. Additionally, Belgium face Italy in the next round following their second place finish in Group C. They narrowly beat New Zealand by a single goal from Haroun.
A goalless stalemate in Group D between Cameroon and Italy guaranteed both nations a place in the quarter-finals at the expense of Korea Republic and Honduras, who lost in all three of their matches. Italy finished top of the table with 7 points with runners-up Cameroon behind on 5 points, shortly followed by Korea Republic.
A semi-final encounter between Brazil and Argentina is on the cards following their dominance of the competition so far. Both South American nations have already shown their flair and attacking superiority over the teams they have faced to this point - thus a meeting between the tournaments favourite and second-favourite is likely. Cameroon stand in Brazil’s way of a semi-final appearance but the Africans’ lack of quality in comparison should see Brazil advance. Netherlands have been disappointing so far and only scarcely progressed ahead of USA and so Argentina are naturally favourites in the tie, but the Europeans will be hard to defeat. A clash of the favourites promises to be a great spectacle and one neutrals will hope for, especially as the household names of Ronaldinho, Diego and Pato will clash with Messi, Agüero and Riquelme. Remarkably, Brazil have failed to win the gold in this tournament before and so will be eager to rewrite history. Both nations will have to guard against complacency though to make it that far and, as we know, there are no guarantees in football.
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