 |
|
|
Argentina regain Olympic glory. US women back to best.
The Athens 2004 Olympic football tornament has been run and won with the best from north and south America taking the womens and mens titles respectively.
The mens tornament saw Argentina face off against Paraguay in the gold medal match. An all South American clash ensuring that the gold would go to the CONMEBOL region. And it was a single strike that did the job.
Carlos Tevez, a rising star of the Olympic tornament, pushed the Argentinians ahead on 18 minutes. His 8th goal of the tornament knocked in off the side of the foot after Fabricio Coloccini put Cesar Delgado down the line. Delgardo crossed for Tevez to slot home. Despite many chances this was all Argentina could manage for the match. Not that they minded though, 1-0 the result they were wanting.
Paraguay shouldn't feel too badly about being unable to score however as Argentina had the formidable record of not conceding a goal all tornament. It's Argentina's first gold medal for 52 years and the first time they had ever won the football event.
The bronze medal match featured heavyweights Italy against the surprise packet of the games, Iraq. Once again it was a single goal that sealed the bronze. Italy's Alberto Gilardino headed in on 8 minutes to deny Iraq the happy ending to their fairytale run.
The womens tornament featured two sides that had dominated the entire tornament. The USA and the Brazilians. Brazil had faced the US in the group stage and came away 2-0 victors. But this time it wasn't to be.
The US started the match ontop when Lindsay Tarplay scored just prior to the break. A 25 metre drive gave the Brazilian keeper no chance. But on 73 minutes Brazil, in their first Olympic final, leveled the score. Cristiane put a low cross through and Pretinha put the ball into the net to tie the match up.
They went into extra time and with eight minutes to go Abby Wambach went into the air and knocked a header into the net, putting the US back infront. The remaining eight minutes went by without an equiliser and so the US came away with a gold medal, leaving Brazil holding the Silver.
The bronze medal match saw a World Cup final replay between Germany and Sweden and unfortunatly for the Scandanavians, the victors were Germany once more. Renate Lingor struck early to give the world champions the bronze medal in the womens competition.
28 August, 2004 |
