Olympics - Fighting for the Scraps (Bronze)

Let us side track a wee little bit from Saturday's EPL to today's Olympics soccer.

Its the day before the finale of Olympics soccer where Nigeria's up-coming youngsters will pit themselves against the superstars of Argentina, many whom already have top-flight first team experience with their respective clubs. Now, let us not get ahead of ourselves and look at the match which will decide who will fly home with at least a Olympics bronze medal. (Not that its an indication of success or glory for the brazilians; for the Belgiums, probably.)

Well well.. Its down to fighting for scraps and its Brazil vs Belgium. In the opening game of the qualifying group stages, Brazil had to work hard and barely scrape through with a slim 1-0 win over Belgium. The odds on offer by most betting companies now is Brazil 0 : 1 1/4 Belgium. Pundits are predicting a back lash from Brazil after suffering a humiliating 3-0 defeat at arch-rivals Argentina. Well well, i say, go with the flow!

Belgium is no Argentina, not even close. Brazil will want to win this so as to redeem whatever little pride they can get. Just by looking at statistics alone, we can roughly tell how well the team is doing. Brazil has scored a whoping 11 goals in this competition, the most goals scored as a team in this competition as compared to Belgium's 7. Brazil's defense is holding well, conceding only 3 goals (all 3 in the Argentina match), as compared to Belgium who leaked 7 goals so far.

After looking at team statistics, now we'll dissect the information and look at individuals. Brazil has 8 players who has scored in the competition so far. 3 of them has scored 2 goals - Ronaldinho, Rafael Sobis and Thiago Neves. The other 5 players has contributed 1 goal each. As for Belgium, they have only 4 players scoring in the competition. Dembele Moussa leading with 3, Mirallas Kevin with 2 and two others with 1 goal each. This statistics show that Belgium are very dependent on a small number of players to play well and score the winning goal, unlike Brazil, who spreads their goal scoring responsibility all over the field. Everyone shares the burden of scoring and they gladly chip in with a goal or two.

Although the previous meeting between Brazil and Belgium ended in Brazil only winning by a slim margin of 1-0, we must remember it was the first match, therefore the momentum is not there yet. As they advance through the competition, Brazil has grown from strength to strength. Count of Ronaldinho and Co. to fight and win Belgium to claim the remaining Bronze medal.

Verdict: Brazil to beat the 1 1/4 handicap.

Olympics Semi Final

Olympics is drawing to an end and over the past few weeks, we've seen my records broken. The most famous and difficult one was probably the feat by US swimming Michael Phelps. He won 8 gold medals in Beijing and has a total of 16 Olympics medal, making him the record holder for the most gold medal won in a single Olympics and also the record holder for having the most Olympics medals. But, who cares? Who cares if Usian Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter ran a world record timing of 9.69seconds in the 100metre race to claim gold or China is leading the medal chart in the Olympics? We soccer fanatics only care about the soccer event in Beijing Olympics 2008.

Its the Semi-finals now and its its going to be Nigeria U23 vs Belgium U23 and Brazil U23 vs Argentina U23. I shall give my predictions and help fellow bettors out there win some cash.

Nigeria U23 vs Belgium U23 (0 : 1/4)
Belgium has performed remarkably well in this tournament, losing Brazil by a narrow margin of 1 goal in the first game, follow by a 2-0 over host country China and a 1-0 win over New Zealand, thus advancing to the quarter finals where they meet Italy. Italy was heavily tipped to win as they were one of the favourites of the tournament. However, Belgium apparantly did not read the script and proceed to win Italy 3-2 even after they were a man down in the 17th minute when Thomas Vermaelen was shown the red card to set up a Semi finals show down with Nigeria U23.

Nigeria has also performed superbly in this tournament, holding group favourites to a goal-less draw in the opening game and follow that up with two 2-1 wins over Japan and USA. In the quarter finals, Nigeria met fellow African nation Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and they won the game 2-0 to advance to the Semi-finals.

Both Belgium and Nigeria are the in form teams at the moment. Belgium coach Jean Francois De Sart has been unable to call on experienced centre back Vincent Kompany since the first match and now has lost another centre back, Thomas Vermaelen due to the red card he got in the previous match. This will be a big concern and headache for the coach. On the bright side, Belgium's striker Moussa Dembele has got 3 goals in the tournament so far and looks to add on to that tally. Belgium's greatest weapon is their team spirit and fast counter attack and this 2 factors is important to winning this match.

Nigeria too has a 3 goals hero in the form of Victor Obinna. Nigeria is an attacking team and they could be a double edged sword if they are not careful and are caught in a counter attack by the Belgiums. However, topping a difficult group in the group stages proves that Nigeria are no pushovers. Therefore, this should be a close and exciting match though Nigeria should edge out because of the absence of the regular centre-back in the Belgium's line-up.

Verdict: Nigeria to win by a small margin.


Argentina U23 vs Brazil U23 (0 : 1/4)
The battle of the 2 favourites in the tournament, reigniting the age-old rivalry between the 2 South America soccer countries. Both Brazil and Argentina have won all their games leading to the Semi-final and Brazil has yet to concede a goal.

This match will be a personal duet between several players of both teams. The battle between Brazil skipper Ronaldinho and Argentina skipper Juan Roman Riquelme will be the key to controlling the tempo and winning of the game. Other direct duet will be between young wizard Lionel Messi and Werden Bremen playmaker Diego; Alexandre Pato against Sergio Aguero. All four players are in the first team of their respective clubs.

This is a difficult match to bet on and it is best to avoid it. However, if I MUST place a bet on this match (due to the fact im watching it and betting on it makes it more exciting), i'll keep my faith in Ronaldinho and Co. Reason being this match is being seen as a classic match, which is NOT how i see it. I see it as a tactical game, both teams playing cautiously and attack without committing too many players in case there is a counter attack. The match might end up goal-less or one goal for each team and go into extra time.

Verdict: Brazil to hold Argentina to a draw or even sneak a win in normal time.