Sergio Aguero sends Argentina into gold contention

Sergio Aguero confirmed his status as one of the world's greatest talents when he sent Argentina through to the Olympic final in a 3-0 triumph at the expense of Brazil. Dunga's team were uninspiring for much of the semi-final but the convincing defeat ended their hopes of landing their maiden gold medal in the men's football at the Olympics. The Argentinian stars were able to turn on the style over their South American rivals as the scoreline clearly indicates.

The semi-final witnessed one of the most famous and fearce rivalries in football, but one country had to prevail. Barcelona starlet Lionel Messi was just one of a number of players who inspired their country to victory and left their Brazilian counterparts ruing their performance. Sergio Aguero's goal on 52 minutes broke the deadlock and a second only six minutes later tilted the advantage firmly into the hands of the Argentinians. The third goal that sentenced Brazil to defeat was from the spot, converted by Riquelme on 75 minutes. Brazil were not only wounded by this resounding loss as Lucas saw red for an ugly fowl on fellow Liverpool teammate Javier Mascherano. Thiago Neves was dismissed in similar fashion that reduced Brazil to only 9 men. A Ronaldinho free-kick which hit the post and a goal ruled offside by Alexandre Pato were Brazil's main highlights of the match.

Argentina will hope to be the first team in Olympic history to successfully defend the men's football gold medal, and they will face Nigeria in the final. Captain Javier Mascherano was thrilled by his country's performance, saying "It was the greatest game for everyone and fortunately we managed to win it. We haven't achieved anything yet, but beating Brazil with a result like this is wonderful."

Nigeria will provide the competition for the gold medal as they overcame Belgian opposition 4-1 to advance to the last stage. Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi was involved in the scoring as he netted twice in Shanghai. The other goalscorers were Olubayo Adefemi, who opened the scoring after 17 minutes, and Chibuzor Okonkwo as he condemned Belgium to a third place play-off. Belgium scored a consolation goal through substitute Laurent Ciman but their fate had already been sealed. Coach Samson Siasia was ecstatic and was optimistic of his team achieving the main prize, "It was unbelievable. You just have to look at the scoreboard. We are going for gold."

South America Beckons For Olympic Gold As Brazil and Argentina Stroll Through To Quarters

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.