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2008 Olympics: Argentina vs Australia LIVE

August 10th, 2008 | By: Christian | 114 Comments »

Is everybody awake yet? Argentina is only moments away from their second Group A match against Australia, and you can leave your comments below on this live blog. Remember a win will assure Sergio Batista’s squad a place in the knockout rounds.

As before, there will be spoilers after the link below, and later tonight I’ll post the results. Vamo’ Argentina!

Argentina Starting XI:
Oscar Ustari
Pablo Zabaleta, Federico Julian Fazio, Ezequiel Garay, Luciano Fabian Monzon
Fernando Gago, Javier Mascherano, Lionel Messi, Juan Riquelme
Ezequiel Ivan Lavezzi, Sergio Leonel Aguero

TELEVISION
TELEMUNDO (Check local listings for number)
5AM ET/2PM PT

ONLINE
EDIT: There seems to be some issue with NBC, who are not showing the game on a live stream. I’m not sure if it’s an issue on their end or what, but so far nothing. I’ll post a link once the video on demand is posted. Until then, please check the link below.

NBColympics.com/soccer

———————

1:55AM: And we’re moments away, as the broadcast begins on Telemundo with the inimitable Andres Cantor. As the two teams walk out onto the pitch, they are greeted by what looks like a full house in Shanghai.

0:00: And we’re off!

2:00: Some horrible defending from the Australian keeper almost leads to a goal. A corner from Riquelme looks dangerous but this team the keeper holds on.

5:00: As expected, this is all Argentina right away. There’s still a lot of football yet to play however. The commentators on Telemundo remark the on terrible conditions of the pitch, which does look shocking.

7:00: And Messi’s shot goes over the crossbar!! Lionel, who is giving the crowd gasps whenever he touches the ball, had a great opportunity to put Argentina up, but his shot goes inches over the crossbar.

9:07: There seems to be some issue right now with NBC’s stream online. Try the Justin TV link for now.

11:45: Masche decides to go for a shot for about 30 meters out.

13:50: Messi nearly scores after walking through about the entire Aussie defense. We’re close now.

16:30: More bumbling from the Aussie keeper , who gives an indirect kick to Argentina for holding the ball longer then 6 seconds. When was the last time you saw that?

16:45: Another missed opportunity, this time from a Riquelme free kick. It’s early, but Argentina needs to score early.

20:53: And Australia decides to get into the match, with their first chance against Ustari. Thankfully their brief explosion in defense leads to nothing.

24:09: Clear foul on Lavezzi. Another dangerous free kick for JRR.

25:08: Riquelme tries to send his free kick under the 6-man Aussie wall, which turns out to be a poor idea.

26:52: We’re over halfway into the first 45 minutes, and Argentina have slowed a bit. While they maintain a majority of possession, they have yet to have anything to show for it. Australia may be playing on their heels, but a slip-up could make things difficult.

28:40: And with that, Riquelme has yet another chance in front of goal, but the Aussie keeper holds on. A nil-nil draw going into the half would be a major disappointment.

30:20: NBC’s stream is still down.

31:37: More nervous moments for the Aussie defense, who almost give away the ball near their own goal.

34:20: The decidedly Chinese crowd begins chanting “ARGENTINA, ARGENTINA!” Amazing. Let’s hope the are repaid soon with a goal. It wouldn’t surprise me if Barcelona goes on a Chinese tour next summer to make money off Messi-mania.

38:13: Australia nearly goes up one, but Socceroo Thompson(?) boots it wide. That could have been bad.

40:56: Less than 5 minutes left. Surprisingly little from Aguero and Lavezzi so far. Perhaps Batista will make a change if this stays the same.

43:40: Gago makes an appearance by booting the ball off the pitch. Things looks a little desperate.

40:40: Riquelme to Messi for goal, so close, but just off target. 1 minute of added time.

END OF FIRST HALF
ARG 0 - 0 AUS

While Argentina were clearly the best team on the pitch, they have nothing to show for it, and the game remains goalless. They had more then enough chances, but the final touch seems to be alluding them. And while Messi and Riquelme look sharp together, there’s been little up top from Aguero and Lavezzi. Australia meanwhile have to be content going into the showers having not given up a goal, and as it goes, they have Argentina where they want them. Football wise, they’ve told us everything we need to know about their game strategy; all defensive, and hope to find something on the counter attack.

There’s still 45 minutes to go however, and Argentina still control the game. Let’s see what Batista does.

SECOND HALF

45:00: We’re underway, and Argentina come out blazing.

48:23: Mascherano again comes close, with a blast that just missed. The crowd nearly burst into applause.

52:33: Clearly Argentina look stronger then at the end of the first half, but a goal, despite seeming close, still awaits.

57:29: Australia are given a golden opportunity to score now, after Mascherano is called for a foul near the edge of the box. Tense moments now.

58:43: Well that was just awful. Argentina breathe a sigh of relief after a shocking free kick from Australia.

60:00: Looks like a substitution from Argentina is coming.

60:43: And it’s Angel di Maria who replaces Kun Aguero.

64:24: It’s still Argentina in the driver’s seat, but they seem to be coasting now after such a strong start. Substitute for Australia, as some guy replaces another guy.

67:20: Messi tries from distance.

69:58: A free kick opportunity for Riquelme is just wasted. Andres Cantor is right, fue de nada.

71:00: di Maria proves he’s no Aguero by weakly kicking the ball past the net.

72:01: And Australia nearly scores!! Thank God they’re off.

73:21: Messi nearly comes close again. After making his way around practically the entire Aussie defense, his shot is just off target.

75:00: And now it’s Lavezzi’s turn, in front of a static yellow defense, his shot is just off. Vamo’ Argentina, por Dios!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL DE ARGENTINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

77:00: Gol de Lavezzi, at last!! The substitute di Maria finds his man, who neatly slams the ball into the net. Batista is overjoyed, and at last Argentina can breathe. It was a long time coming, but well worth it. The knockout round awaits!

78:00: and the game comes alive. The crowd is into it, and even Australia have woken up, nearly pulling one back on the counter. They make their last substitution.

82:39: Argentina are enjoying another spell of possession, much to the displeasure of the crowd, who want more.

83:40: Another free kick now for Riquelme. Is this his time?

84:00: Nope.

85:15: Crowd really starts booing now. Hard to blame Argentina here though, who would do well to not give Australia anything.

86:14: Jose Sosa replaces the goal scorer Lavezzi.

87:51: Australia comes close again…Tense moments still.

88:35: Foul on Riquelme, as Milligan from AUS comes hard from behind.

89:00: Riquelme with so much space given elicites “OOOO’s” from the crowd when moments later his shot comes close.

90:45: And Monzon nearly hands Australia a goal! Thankfully the Socceroos don’t know what to do with it.

92:31: Last change for Argentina, as Messi comes to a standing ovation in Shanghai, replaced by Laularo Acosta. A brilliant game for Lio, who deserved a goal. It’s scary to think we have yet to see his best. What a player.

FULL TIME
ARG 1 - 0 AUS

Thankfully, the ref blows his whistle and a potential upset is averted. Argentina owned the game, had most of the possession, and created the most chances, but they somehow managed only 1 goal against an Australian side who showed little. di Maria again makes his impact felt as a substitute, and Messi puts on a show. With a spot booked in the next round, Argentina can breathe easy going into their last game against Serbia, but with the gold medal on the line, Batista’s squad still has yet to fully come together.

Thanks for following along. I apologize again for NBC, but I’ll post links as soon as they are available. Remember, the Argentine Apertura is underway as well. I look forward to all your comments. Now, it’s time to get some sleep. Chau chau.

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 114 comments.

Read the rest of the comments

By Debasish | August 11th, 2008 at 12:23 pm

I completely agree with Alexa. There is a lot to do with how much time and effort you take to score your first goal. If that comes easily, then the opponent cannot sit back and there are more opening and more goals. We have not been able to do it at all. There are not too many opponents who will play all out against Argentina. Remember, for every other country its a good result if you can draw with Argentina. So as time passes opponents plays more for the draw. Which kills us. By the time we are in 60-70 mins, we are desperate and I dread a counter attack goal at this point.

But we do need a #9. One who can smell goal. We have missed so many chances in the last few games. 2 in Olympics, Brazil, Ecuador, USA etc. And if you think of it 75% times our strikers have not been able to keep it in goal. Messi is by far the best finisher right now and even he misses some. Aguero is really out of form.

Posted from United States

By toddutah | August 11th, 2008 at 12:35 pm

Ok time to think about the brackets. As it is shaping up right now my prediction is that Group B will be won by nigeria with Netherlands second. That means we would play netherlands if we win and then get Brasil in the semi finals. If we take second in our group then we would most likely face Nigeria and then Italy in semis. Any preferences there?

Posted from United States

By toddutah | August 11th, 2008 at 12:38 pm

Also i would add that Brasil has such an easy group that they are in no way getting prepared fo rthe knockout stages. They will most likey play Camerron in there first knockout game and will not have faced any team near as good as them in their group play where as we have been prepared somewhat against a very good ivory coast team. I would argue that any other team in our group would take first or second iin brasils group.

Posted from United States

By Asil | August 11th, 2008 at 1:01 pm

Let’s play Brazil in semi rather than final.

Maybe luck will be on our side. Or less tense, maybe?

Posted from Malaysia

By Golazo | August 11th, 2008 at 1:04 pm

Talking about number 9 Franco di santo was awarded the number 9 at chelsea.

Posted from United States

By toddutah | August 11th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

Once again does anybody know much about these two players?

Ischia Delighted With Boca Win
Boca Juniors coach Carlos Ischia was delighted with his team’s performance in the 4-0 victory over Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy…
Print This Story Send To A Friend Contact Us galleria zoom Carlos Ischia was happy with how his side played, and admitted that the changes he made during the break paid dividends.

“One tries to make things work with changes and this is what happened this time, but it was merit of the players. Ricardo (Noir) met a good ball and he scored soon after he came on,” he stated. “And Leandro (Gracian) scored a nice goal. Both players were very important.”

Posted from United States

By toddutah | August 11th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

Wow please Franco di santo make it happen. If he can score for Chelsea then he can score for the NT.

Posted from United States

By toddutah | August 11th, 2008 at 2:11 pm

I think Riquleme has played pretty well myself. HOw many chances should we have to create a game 30? If you have 20 shots at goal then your creative midfield is proabably doing pretty well .

Posted from United States

By mane | August 11th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

well like I said I think riquelme has had the material to be great but for some reason he sabotages his own legacy. what his problem is? I think the team’s shrink would know but it would not be the first time laziness turns a great prospect into an average memory.

I am glad argentina won both matches but we are talking about australia and ivory coast and in the case of the ivory coast game they got lucky with messi’s goal as it was offside but a win is a win I guess but, do we expect luck to give more wins against the likes of germany, italy, brazil? I would be telling the same thing to those brazilians who are oozing at defeating new zealand and belgium. both argentina and brazil can and should do far better than that. I hope they both find their rhythm.

By Albo | August 11th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

Riquelme and Agüero, both got a yellow card so they are not going to be playing against Serbia.
Buonanotte in for Riquelme.
Di María will play for Agüero.

Posted from United States

By Christian | August 11th, 2008 at 2:47 pm

Buonanotte! It’s about time. I doubt we’ll see him beyond the Serbia game, but I hope Enano does well.

As for Ricardo Noir and Leandro Gracian, I can’t say I’ve followed them too closely, but I remember last seasone when Boca were in the Libertadores and they basically gave up on the season, they let the “pibes” play in the league which included these two, and I know they did very well. Don’t know much beyond that, other than everyone seems to be pronouncing it “no-ir” instead of “nwaar.”

Posted from United States

By toddutah | August 11th, 2008 at 3:11 pm

I think Noir is the young one with a possible bright future. As far as the olympics go I think that you just win your group and move on. It is possible that Brasil Argentina and Netherlands might all be on the same side if the bracket but then again Italy and Ivory Coast might be the toughest two teams left besides us. I agree that it could be nice for us to play Brasil the semi instead of the final and i am not so sure that brasil would even get past Italy. Right now who wold you rather play in the semis? Italy , Brasil , or Ivory Coast?

Posted from United States

By Alexa | August 11th, 2008 at 3:39 pm

The Aguero thing is interesting me. He is having a hard time adjusting to the senior team, which shouldn’t be a a surprise because he’s so young still.
I see this whole tournament only in the terms of how the team evolves for the world cup - so as long as Aguero gets this time to figure things out on the international level, I’ll be happy. Basically, I’d like to see him go from “menor to mayor” in this tournament, regardless how well he does.

In other news, Kobe Bryant wants to meet Messi. Can you imagine the photo op between those two?

Posted from United States

By Albo | August 11th, 2008 at 3:49 pm

Christian, I don’t know why did you erase my post, but I’m getting tired of this.

Posted from United States

By J-Argie | August 11th, 2008 at 3:55 pm

Chelsea hand rookie Di Santo No9 shirt
tribalfooball.com - August 08, 2008

Chelsea have handed the prized No9 shirt to teenage Argentine striker Franco di Santo.

Di Santo has yet to make his debut for the Blues but he has played a big part during pre-season.

And boss Phil Scolari appears to have given the youngster a huge chance by handing him the number.

Di Santo, 19, takes over the shirt from Steve Sidwell, who moved to Aston Villa this summer.

New signings Deco and Jose Bosingwa have taken the No20 and No17 shirts respectively.

By Christian | August 11th, 2008 at 3:59 pm

Albo, I may have gotten yours by accident as I was bulk-deleting, so my apologies.

Guys, PLEASE, if someone trolls or leaves an insulting messae, just ignore, and I PROMISE I’ll delete it. Let’s not go off topic if we can help it. Wr’re very close to getting our spam filters back online so I just ask that you hold on a little more.

I don’t want anyone to leave the blog as a result of trolls because this is such a great space when we talk football. Thanks for visiting as always.

Christian

Posted from United States

By J-Argie | August 11th, 2008 at 4:03 pm

Inter Milan boss Mourinho impressed by Burdisso
tribalfootball.com - August 10, 2008

Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho has singled out defender Nicolas Burdisso for praise over his preseason form.

“Who has stood out for me in all the games so far? I say Burdisso, he played three perfect games without making a mistake,” said Mourinho.

“I think the whole team would agree with me on that score. The injury problems are abating, as Ivan Cordoba and Walter Samuel are recovering well and will be back in full training soon.

“I am also happy that Ibrahimovic played for almost an hour. I hope to use him for longer in Lisbon and at that stage he’ll be ready for the Super Cup clash with Roma.”

By Alexa | August 11th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

I was erased as well. Sheesh. But some troll’s posts still exists. That’s annoying.

Anyway, does anyone know when Arg play tomorrow? 7:45est?

Posted from United States

By J-Argie | August 11th, 2008 at 6:18 pm

they are playing tomorrow, are they? they are th e13th

By Alexa | August 11th, 2008 at 6:54 pm

Right — Yeah– just found it. They are playing tomorrow at 7:45.

By Albo | August 11th, 2008 at 8:11 pm

I imagine Gago will distribute the ball and then we’re gonna have Buonanotte, Messi, DiMaria and Lavezzi “do their thing”. The tempo will go up too. Should be “goleada”.

Posted from United States

By Alexa | August 11th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

I’m really looking forward to seeing Buonanotte tomorrow.

By John From Mundo | August 11th, 2008 at 9:33 pm

Hi guys,

Just like everybody else, I want Checho and his boys to get a BIG win against Serbia. That would increase the team’s confidence heading into the quarter finals. I don’t care who we meet along the way because the best team fears no one.

The other day some moron was comparing our game against Australia and Brazil’s match against NZ. These people seem to forget that there is huge gap between the Aussie and the Kiwis.

First of all, the only reason NZ is in the Olympics is because Australia has pull out of Ocenia and are now competing under Asia. Therefore, there is no tough opponent for the All-Whites.

So far it has been really mediocre game for our contingent in the games. Our football is not on fire, yet.

Basketball suffered a defeat in their first game and Las Leonas is struggling to win games (the latest a 2-2 draw with Great Britain).

Posted from Malaysia

By Christian | August 12th, 2008 at 1:35 am

Posted new thread with report of Australia game and Apertura scores.

By Pete | August 12th, 2008 at 5:31 am

‘Some guy replaces some other guy’, etc. What a loaded ‘live blog’ that was. Obviously you favour Argentina, and obviously Argentina played a better game, but I’m getting really tired of Europeans and South Americans ragging on other teams, not giving them a chance, and acting as though teams from Asia or Oceania dont ‘belong’ in the world of football.

Australia made it to the round of 16 in the last World Cup, and I hope they do so again.

I just think it’s time some of the South American and European fans opened their minds and allowed the thought of Australia or other such countries actually going well, to go through their heads.

Posted from Australia