Argentina Wins Olympic Games Soccer

Argentina came into the Olympic Games as the overwhelming favorite to defend its title from Athens 2004, and Los Albicelestes managed to do exactly this, with a tight 1-0 victory over a very well disciplined Nigeria side in the grand final.

Argentina Beat Nigeria

A lone strike from Angel Di Maria in the 57th minute was enough for Argentina to claim the title, in a grand final that left a lot to be desired, particularly for neutral fans. Why on earth did they play the match at such an early time anyway? The 32 degree heat hugely affected the performance of both teams.

Personally, the final was one of the worst ones I've seen in recent years. Argentina was well worth its victory, and proved superior to Nigeria (as was expected), but they played their football at a slow pace, and their star players didn't make an impact on the match. Lionel Messi was lively, and demonstrated flashes of why he is the best player in the world at the moment, but other than him Argentina were not at their best form.

Argentina Win Gold Medal

Still, it was enough to win them the gold medal, particularly because Nigeria lacked creativity in the attack, and never really looked like scoring, even at the end. Where was all that flair we had seen during the tournament? Nigeria did its best, and played a good match, but it was evident that no matter how much they tried, they just weren't up to the task at the end of the day. Despite this, the Nigerians showed a lot of courage against a very difficult side (credit to head coach Samson Siasia).

Argentina's hero, Angel Di Maria, who also got Argentina the win against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, was Sergio Batista's "big surprise" of the tournament. He started off as a substitute, but earned himself a place in the starting XI and was well worth it. Di Maria played a key role in a very strong Argentina side.

The Argentines played some brilliant soccer in the tournament, particularly in the emphatic 3-0 semifinal win over Brazil, and much of this squad is likely to feature in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Although the Olympic Games has become a very important soccer competition, the tournament that Argentina needs to win is the FIFA World Cup. They will be working very hard to do just this.

Congratulations to Argentina, and thanks to everyone for following my posts, I really appreciate it.

Argentina-Nigeria Line-ups

Argentina 1: Sergio Romero, Pablo Zabaleta, Nicolas Pareja, Ezequiel Garay, Fabian Monzon, Javier Mascherano, Fernando Gago, Juan Roman Riquelme, Lionel Messi (Ezequiel Lavezzi 90'), Angel Di Maria (Ever Banega 87') and Sergio Aguero (Jose Sosa 78'). Coach: Sergio Batista.

Nigeria 0: Ambruse Vanzekin, Olubayo Adefemi, Onyekachi Apam, Ayodele Adeleye, Chibuzor Okonkwo, Oluwafemi Ajilore, Sani Kaita, Isaac Promise (Emmanuel Ekpo 69'), Victor Obinna, Salomon Okoronkwo (Victor Anichebe 63') and Peter Odemwingie. Coach: Samson Siasia.

Goal: Angel Di Maria (57').

Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary).

Venue: Beijing Workers' Stadium. Att: 89,102.

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