Nigeria and Argentina to play for Beijing Olympics Gold

Both Argentina and Brazil put on dominating semifinal displays to book their places in the Beijing Olympic soccer gold medal game.

Argentina 3  Brazil 0
Argentina forward Sergio Aguero scored twice to help the Olympic champions to a 3-0 win over Brazil in their semi-final on Tuesday.   Aguero also won a penalty from which Juan Roman Riquelme completed the scoring to earn Argentina a place in Saturday's final against Nigeria, 4-1 winners over Belgium.  The Olympic Games are the only major title to have eluded the Brazilians, five-times winners of the World Cup and eight-times winners of the Copa America.   After hitting the post twice, their frustration boiled over in the last 10 minutes when Lucas and Thiago Neves were sent off, both for tackles on Javier Mascherano.

Such was the importance Brazil attached to the contest that Dunga, coach of the senior side, took charge of the team in Beijing.   Although it was not quite the real thing, with Olympic soccer restricted to under-23 teams (plus three over-age players per team), the duel between Brazil's Ronaldinho and Argentina's Lionel Messi still made the South American derby one of the highlights of the Olympics.   A 62,000-strong crowd packed the Workers Stadium to see the former Barcelona team mates, almost certainly the first time in an Olympic soccer tournament that two such big names have been on the same pitch.

On a personal level, Messi easily won the duel. Ronaldinho, included as one of Brazil's three permitted overage players in the tournament, was barely in the contest.   Argentina, who had not beaten Brazil in their last four senior meetings, enjoyed slightly the better of a first half which saw only flashes of inspiration.  Argentina broke the deadlock in the 52nd minute when a typically intricate exchange of passes down the left ended with Angel Di Maria firing a shot across goal which bounced off Aguero and into the net.

Rafael Sobis hit the bottom of the left-hand post with a 25 metre drive as Brazil looked for a quick reply.  Argentina then increased their lead when Messi dribbled his way across the penalty area and found Ezequiel Garay, whose low cross was turned in by the ever-alert Aguero.  Brazil continued to find themselves out of luck when Ronaldinho struck the post from a free kick and Alexandre Pato turned the rebound into the net, only to have the goal disallowed for offside.  Riquelme added a 76th minute penalty to kill off their hopes.

Nigeria 4  Belgium 1
Nigeria thumped surprise package Belgium 4-1 on Tuesday to reach the Olympic soccer final for the first time since winning the tournament 12 years ago.  Striker Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi scored twice in the second half after Olubayo Adefemi had given the exuberant but erratic Africans an early lead.

Chibuzor Okonkwo completed the rout while Victor Anchebi sidefooted wide with the goal at his mercy for arguably the worst miss of the competition.   Belgium, surprise winners over Italy in the quarter-finals, were on equal terms for the first hour but then fell apart.   The Olympic tournament is restricted to under-23 teams with three overage players permitted per side. Nigeria, publicly criticised by coach Samson Siasia for lack of discipline earlier in the tournament, went ahead in the 17th minute when Okonkwo's shot hit a defender and fell nicely into the path of Adefemi who stroked the ball home from 12 metres.   Solomon Okoronkwo wasted another Nigerian chance when he broke clear of the Belgian defence but shot across the face of goal.

Then Peter Odemwingie turned the ball wide after Ogbuke Obasi slipped past his marker with some clever stepovers.   Belgium made a lively start to the second half with Faris Haroun blasting the ball against the crossbar and Tom De Mul forcing Ambruse Vanzekin to make a difficult save in successive attacks.   Nigeria increased their lead in the 59th minute when substitute Anichebe rolled the ball into the penalty area and Ogbuke Obasi slipped the offside trap to sidefoot home.   Long-range goals from Ogbuke Obasi and Okonkwo doubled Nigeria's tally in the last 20 minutes before substitute Laurent Ciman rifled a late consolation for Belgium.