The bronze medal was won by Argentina, who defeated Lithuania 87-75.

Argentina defeated Nigeria, 1-0, at the Bird’s Nest stadium, to win the gold, and continue a run of success by Argentine youth teams that may herald a resurgence of the South American power at the senior level.
Leading that resurgence will be Lionel Messi, the Argentine forward who garnered the loudest applause every time he touched the ball. Messi, known for his dazzling dribbling skills, attacked the Nigerian back line, trying to force mistakes by defenders Dele Adeleye and Onyekachi Apam, who have been solid this tournament, but far from flawless.

Between Messi’s darting runs and Juan Roman Riquelme’s long, low passes to Sergio Aguero, meeting the forward in stride as he ran at goal, Argentina controlled most of the first half.

Although Argentina and Nigeria also played for the gold medal in 1996 in Atlanta — with Nigeria winning, 3-2, for the country’s only gold medal in soccer — a more recent game between the countries is more indicative of their rivalry. Messi and Aguerowere also key players on the 2005 FIFA Youth World Cup final. In that game, Argentina beat Nigeria, 2-1. Fourteen players from that 2005 match were featured in Saturday’s game here, including Messi, the difference-maker both times.

In Saturday’s game, Messi dictated the play and set up the game’s only goal by Angel Di Maria.

In the 58th minute, Messi quickly dribbled the ball out of his own half, and sent a perfectly timed through ball to Di Maria, who was not well marked, streaking down the left side. Di Maria ran in on goal alone, expertly chipping from 18 yards over the advancing goalkeeper, Ambruse Vanzekin.

Before the goal, both teams had controlled stretches of the game, with Argentina maintaining possession but Nigeria winning a number of dangerous chances on goal.

For Argentina, it was the second consecutive gold medal. The same core group of players also won the under-20 World Cup titles in 2005 and 2007, and many of them already star for the senior national team.

Nigeria tried early in the first half to involve the tall and dynamic forward Solomon Okoronkwo in the attack. But he was castigated to the right flank and the Argentinians did a good job of controlling the ball in the center and switching fields.

Nigeria enjoyed far less possession, but each early foray into attack was direct and threatening, causing Argentina keeper Sergio Romero to come out recklessly for the ball, looking shaky more than a few times. After the 26th minute, Nigeria gained more and more advantages as the midfielder Promise Isaac exerted his influence.

Isaac broke down the left side in the 34th minute and ran right at the Argentina goal, forcing Romero, who had been quick and careless off his line, to commit early. Sani Kaita was too far outside the back post to do much with the low cross and his angled shot was cleared away. It was one of five Nigerian chances in 15 minutes as the attacking opportunities fell more and more to the Africans.

Argentina reasserted itself in the second half. Messi’s first run of the second period ended with a hard shot on goal. Javier Mascherano, who was content to defend in the first half, played more advanced, making a long run from the back to the edge of the Nigeria box. Isaac, Kaita and Victor Obinna found little time or space to handle the ball in midfield.

When Di Maria put Argentina ahead, Nigeria felt the pressure and responded urgently. The defense executed harder slide tackles and Isaac forced the ball into attack. Nigeria had two good shots on goal in two minutes, but the team’s failure to get the talented Okoronkwo involved made him increasingly frustrated. Victor Anichebe replaced him, energizing Nigeria.

Isaac, who played well, was replaced in the 69th minute because of fatigue. Once during each half, the referee stopped the game for a water break, urging players to the sideline for a drink to ease the midday heat. After some hydration, Emanuel Ekpo came on and was immediately effective. His passes forced miscues by Argentina’s Ezequiel Garay and Nicolas Pareja, and earned Nigeria several corner kicks.

Argentina, tired and trying to protect its lead, was content to let Messi and Aguero run free in counter attack until a series of defensive substitutions saw each player walk slowly off the field. Twice in a minute Argentina was penalized for wasting time. Luciano Monzon was cautioned for taking extra seconds on a throw in and Riquelme was similarly penalized for stalling on a free kick in the 81st minute.

Late chances by Nigeria were off target and, when the final whistle blew, the men in green shirts fell to the field, exhausted. The Argentina players bounced and danced in a circle at the center of the field where they would later stand on the top platform to accept their medals.

source: nytimes.com

Claudia Burkart (11th minute), Carla Rebecchi (23rd) and Noel Barrionuevo (62nd) scored the goals for Argentina. Anke Kuehn scored Germany’s only goal.

“I think Argentina were better prepared than Brazil,” said Pele. “Once again, Brazil couldn’t win the gold medal.”

“It’s not good for us but this is what happens in football, one team loses and one team wins. Against Argentina, it’s always very difficult with a great rivalry.”

“Brazil has to work hard to form a team because nothing will happen with just big names, with 11 big names. A team has to be prepared. If the players don’t know that it will be difficult to form a team.”

Brazil will battle Belgium for the bronze medal, while Argentina play Nigeria to decide the gold.

Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby of Australia won the silver medal and Santiago Lange and Carlos Espinola of Argentina won the bronze medal.

Lionel Messi scored and two goals came from Sergio Aguero.

A crowd of 52,968 fans packed the Worker’s Stadium including Diego Maradona.

Nigeria thrashed Belgium 4-1 in Shanghai.

Argentina

CURUCHET Juan Esteban
PEREZ Walter Fernando

Spain

LLANERAS Joan
TAULER Antonio

Russian Fed.

IGNATYEV Mikhail
MARKOV Alexei

Belgium and Nigeria will play in Shanghai in the other semi-final.

The Argentina - Brazil match is being billed as the Ronaldinho-Lionel Messi clash.

“It’s a match between two great teams,” Brazil midfielder Anderson said. “We are not afraid of them and they are not afraid of us. At the end we will know who will continue to the final and who was the best team.”

Read more: It’s Messi vs. Ronaldinho just as much as Brazil vs. Argentina

Lionel Messi had missed three chances, Lavezzi scored in the 78th minute of the game.

“We have three goals from two games, that might not sound enough but you can score 10 goals but still not qualify for the next round,” said Argentina coach Sergio Batista. “So I’m happy with three goals and qualifying for the next round.”

“I am very confident in my team. We knew our goal and we are marching towards our goal. We still need a few improvements to keep mistakes to a minimum.”

Australia has just one point after a 1-1 draw with Serbia.

“I’m extremely proud of the performance of my team and frustrated that we lost,” Australian coach Graham Arnold said. “When you have four or five gilt edged chances against that type of opposition you need to score them and unfortunately that didn’t happen.”

Read more: Argentina beats Australia 1-0 in Olympic soccer