Argentina, Italy favourites for Olympic soccer gold

Athens could see two of the traditional powerhouses, Argentina and Italy, fight it out. Or Portugal, which fields the rising stars.

It's hard to see the Africans winning the Olympic soccer title for the third time in a row.

HT Image

Although Nigeria won the Olympic gold medal in 1996 at Atlanta and Cameroon triumphed in Sydney four years ago, the 2004 tournament looks like being a showdown between two traditional soccer powerhouse nations _ Argentina and Italy.

If that doesn't happen, maybe host Greece will follow up its amazing Euro 2004 success by giving the home fans another major triumph.

Or Portugal, which fields several of the rising stars of soccer including Manchester United's teenage winger Cristiano Ronaldo, will make up for that European Championship final defeat by taking its first Olympic title.

The four nations hoping to complete an African Olympic hat-trick are Tunisia, Morocco, Mali and Ghana, who made it through the qualifying rounds. If more than two reach the quarterfinals, the African Confederation will have done well.

The 16 qualifiers have been separated geographically in the draw to make sure teams from the same confederations don't meet each other in the first round of group games.

Host Greece is grouped with South Korea, Mali and Mexico; Italy faces Paraguay, Japan and Ghana; Argentina meets Serbia-Montenegro, Tunisia and Australia; Portugal plays against Morocco, Costa Rica and surprise finalist Iraq.

Of other soccer powerhouse teams, Brazil, Germany and 2000 runner up Spain didn't qualify. England can't take part because it is not recognized alone by the International Olympic Committee. Britain is recognized by the IOC but can't, in itself, be a member of FIFA because England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are separately affiliated.

Because soccer's world governing body, FIFA, doesn't want the Olympic soccer championship to take the spotlight away from its World Cup, the rules are that teams must field players age 23 or under. But they can field three stars above that age threshold. The way the tournament pans out, Italy and Argentina can't face each other until the semi-final although South America's best hope could meet the star-studded Portuguese in the quarters.

That means an Argentina lineup which has experienced Valencia defender Roberto Ayala and Barcelona's talented forward Javier Saviola could face Ronaldo, Chelsea's new signing Tiago Mendes and FC Porto striker Helder Postiga on the Portuguese lineup. Italy has midfielder Andrea Pirlo, who helped AC Milan win the Serie A title, and young striker Parma striker Alberto Gilardino whose goals helped the Italians win a record fifth European Under 21 title in June.

The biggest name on Japan's lineup is experienced Feyenoord midfielder Shinji Ono while the Greek roster has one of its Euro 2004 stars, defender Giourkas Seitaridis.

The FC Porto defender snuffed out the threat of Ronaldo, Thierry Henry of France and free-scoring Czech striker Milan Baros at the European Championship as Greece, which had never won a game at a major championship before, went all the way to winning the title. Iraq may not have any big stars, but it's very appearance at the Olympics is worthy of a medal in itself.

Bernd Stange's Iraqi team was unable to play any of its qualifying or friendly games on home turf because of the conflict at home and has relied effectively on handouts to keep afloat financially.

"It's better to bring soccer balls and shirts and medicine to Baghdad than tanks and arms and all this rubbish," Stange said after his team played a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago at the home of West Bromwich Albion in central England.

"That's my concern. We bring millions of dollars for the war. Give some hundred thousand for peace, it would help everybody." Like in the men's event, the women's competition doesn't have the defending champion.

While Cameroon didn't make it to through the qualifying rounds, the three European teams to qualify for the Olympics were decided by the top finishers at the World Cup. That meant Germany and Sweden joined host Greece and Olympic champion Norway missed out. The main gold medal contenders of the 10 finalists are world champion Germany, 1996 Olympic gold medallist and two-time World Cup winner United States and China.

Several of the American team _ Mia Hamm, Joy Fawcett, Julie Foudy and probably Kristine Lilly and Brandi Chastain _ may end their international careers if they don't win the gold medal after more than a decade wearing the national colors.

Striker Birgit Prinz, FIFA's Women Player of the Year, and defender Sandra Meinert will be Germany's key players while China is still looking for a new star t the retired Sun Wen, its standout striker of the 1990s.

The men's and women's championships kick off Aug. 11 two days ahead of the Games' opening ceremony. Organizers say close to 1 million tickets have been sold for the soccer games, more than for any other sport.

 

If that doesn't happen, maybe host Greece will follow up its amazing Euro 2004 success by giving the home fans another major triumph.

Or Portugal, which fields several of the rising stars of soccer including Manchester United's teenage winger Cristiano Ronaldo, will make up for that European Championship final defeat by taking its first Olympic title.

The four nations hoping to complete an African Olympic hat-trick are Tunisia, Morocco, Mali and Ghana, who made it through the qualifying rounds. If more than two reach the quarterfinals, the African Confederation will have done well.

The 16 qualifiers have been separated geographically in the draw to make sure teams from the same confederations don't meet each other in the first round of group games.

Host Greece is grouped with South Korea, Mali and Mexico; Italy faces Paraguay, Japan and Ghana; Argentina meets Serbia-Montenegro, Tunisia and Australia; Portugal plays against Morocco, Costa Rica and surprise finalist Iraq.

Of other soccer powerhouse teams, Brazil, Germany and 2000 runner up Spain didn't qualify. England can't take part because it is not recognized alone by the International Olympic Committee. Britain is recognized by the IOC but can't, in itself, be a member of FIFA because England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are separately affiliated.

Because soccer's world governing body, FIFA, doesn't want the Olympic soccer championship to take the spotlight away from its World Cup, the rules are that teams must field players age 23 or under. But they can field three stars above that age threshold. The way the tournament pans out, Italy and Argentina can't face each other until the semi-final although South America's best hope could meet the star-studded Portuguese in the quarters.

That means an Argentina lineup which has experienced Valencia defender Roberto Ayala and Barcelona's talented forward Javier Saviola could face Ronaldo, Chelsea's new signing Tiago Mendes and FC Porto striker Helder Postiga on the Portuguese lineup. Italy has midfielder Andrea Pirlo, who helped AC Milan win the Serie A title, and young striker Parma striker Alberto Gilardino whose goals helped the Italians win a record fifth European Under 21 title in June.

The biggest name on Japan's lineup is experienced Feyenoord midfielder Shinji Ono while the Greek roster has one of its Euro 2004 stars, defender Giourkas Seitaridis.

The FC Porto defender snuffed out the threat of Ronaldo, Thierry Henry of France and free-scoring Czech striker Milan Baros at the European Championship as Greece, which had never won a game at a major championship before, went all the way to winning the title. Iraq may not have any big stars, but it's very appearance at the Olympics is worthy of a medal in itself.

Bernd Stange's Iraqi team was unable to play any of its qualifying or friendly games on home turf because of the conflict at home and has relied effectively on handouts to keep afloat financially.

"It's better to bring soccer balls and shirts and medicine to Baghdad than tanks and arms and all this rubbish," Stange said after his team played a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago at the home of West Bromwich Albion in central England.

"That's my concern. We bring millions of dollars for the war. Give some hundred thousand for peace, it would help everybody." Like in the men's event, the women's competition doesn't have the defending champion.

While Cameroon didn't make it to through the qualifying rounds, the three European teams to qualify for the Olympics were decided by the top finishers at the World Cup. That meant Germany and Sweden joined host Greece and Olympic champion Norway missed out. The main gold medal contenders of the 10 finalists are world champion Germany, 1996 Olympic gold medallist and two-time World Cup winner United States and China.

Several of the American team _ Mia Hamm, Joy Fawcett, Julie Foudy and probably Kristine Lilly and Brandi Chastain _ may end their international careers if they don't win the gold medal after more than a decade wearing the national colors.

Striker Birgit Prinz, FIFA's Women Player of the Year, and defender Sandra Meinert will be Germany's key players while China is still looking for a new star t the retired Sun Wen, its standout striker of the 1990s.

The men's and women's championships kick off Aug. 11 two days ahead of the Games' opening ceremony. Organizers say close to 1 million tickets have been sold for the soccer games, more than for any other sport.