Haka arrives at Olympic Games

Exactly. The Haka arrives at Olympics. But not because rugby was included in Beijing 2008 (and it seems that won’t be part of London 2012). That is because the New Zealand U-23 football team has done it before their matches at Olympic Games. But wasn’t enough. New Zealand was defeated by Belgium 1-0 and couldn’t reach quarterfinals phase.

Now we know that Haka is not only for All Blacks… And also we found interesting videos: the Haka practiced by New Zealand swimmers during the 2nd FINA World Youth Championships held in Monterrey, Mexico on July.

Brazil 1 – Belgium 0: Anderson Hernanes confirmed the first victory

In Shenyang Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Brazil has some problems but defeated Belgium 1-0. Midfielder Anderson Hernanes scored at 79 minutes in the itinerary to win the first Brazilian gold medal in football.

Also as part of the Group B, host China (Fangzhuo Dong) and New Zealand (Jeremy Brockie) draw 1-1 and must win next matches to reach quarterfinals.

Messi goal opened Argentina 2 – Ivory Coast 0 match

The Olympic Games for men’s football have started. In the first date of Group A Argentina beat Ivory Coast 2-1 searching the second goal medal in a row in this sport. Lionel Messi and Lautaro Acosta scored Argentinian goals, while Sekou Cissé scored for the African team who is playing soccer in Olympic Games for the first time.

In the same group Australia (Ruben Zadkovich) and Serbia (Slobodan Rajkovic) draw 1-1 and share the second place of the group.

Beijing 2008: Eredivisie is the most represented league

The Olympic Men’s Football tournament starts on Thursday. The 16 qualified countries named their squads last week and most of the players play their club football in the Netherlands.

The Dutch squad contains 13 players from the Netherlands, while Belgium has selected six players from the Eredivisie.

Marc Mboua (Cameroon) and Keisuke Honda (Japan) play for clubs in the Eerste Divisie, the second professional level in Holland.

England, Spain, France and Germany are also in the top 10, despite the fact that their Olympic teams do not take part in the Olympic Men’s Football tournament, according to Infostrada.

Where do the players at the 2008 Olympic Games play their club football?

Total / Nation
28 Netherlands
27 Italy
21 England
18 China
18 Spain
17 Japan
16 France
16 South Korea
15 Honduras
12 Germany

Non Dutch players at Olympic Games who are active in Dutch leagues

Country / Player / Position/ Club
Argentina: Sergio Romero GK AZ
Belgium: Sebastien Pocognoli DF AZ
Belgium: Sepp De Roover DF FC Groningen
Belgium: Thomas Vermaelen DF Ajax
Belgium: Jan Vertonghen DF Ajax
Belgium: Maarten Martens MF AZ
Belgium: Moussa Dembélé FW AZ
Cameroon: Marc Mboua FW SC Cambuur-Leeuwarden
Ivory Coast: Sekou Cissé FW Roda JC
Japan: Keisuke Honda MF VVV-Venlo
Nigeria: Dele Adeleye DF Sparta Rotterdam
Nigeria: Sani Kaita MF Sparta Rotterdam
Nigeria: Oluwafemi Ajilore MF FC Groningen
Serbia: Slobodan Rajkovic DF FC Twente
USA: Michael Bradley MF sc Heerenveen

Beijing 2008 squads

FIFA don´t care about the Olympics, so they didn´t publish the teams. But Laurie did it: 18 players for each 16 U-23 National Teams.

We have added the men schedule here.

French Ligue 1 players at Beijing 2008

L´Equipe, the best sport newspaper in the World, published the list of the players that will be part of the Olympic Games from Ligue 1.

Let´s see if Olympique Marseille will miss Modeste M’bami and Taye Taïwo during the Third Qualifying Round of the UEFA Champions League. FC Barcelona denied Lionel Messi knowing that the Catalan team also must play this phase during the Olympic Games.

GRENOBLE: Franck Dja-Djedje (forward, 22 years old, Cote d’Ivoire ).

LE MANS: Gervais Yao Kouassi "Gervinho" (forward, 21 years old, Cote d’Ivoire).

LILLE: Aurélien Chedjou (midfielder, 23 years old, Cameroun), Kevin Mirallas (forward, 20 years old, Belgium).

LYON: Jean II Makoun (midfielder, 25 years old, Cameroun).

MARSEILLE: Modeste M'bami (midfielder, 24 years old, Cameroun), Taye Ismaila Taïwo (defender, 23 years old, Nigeria).

NANTES: Christian Bekamenga (forward, 22 years old, Cameroun), Stefan Babovic (midfielder, 21 years old, Serbia) , Filip Djordjevic (forward, 20 years old, Serbia).

NANCY: Landry Nguemo (midfielder, 22 years old, Cameroun).

NICE: Kafoumba Coulibaly (midfielder, 22 years old, Cote d’Ivoire), Onyekachi Apam (defender, 21 years old, Nigeria).

MONACO: Fredua Koranteng "Freddy" Adu (forward, 19 years old, United States).

PARIS-SG: Albert Legrand Baning (defender, 23 years old, Cameroun).

RENNES: Stéphane Mbia (midfielder, 22 years old, Cameroun).

Beijing 2008 Football Schedule Men

GROUP A

2008-08-07
17:00 Australia v Serbia Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai

2008-08-07
19:45 Côte d'Ivoire v Argentina Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai

2008-08-10
17:00 Argentina v Australia Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai

2008-08-10
19:45 Serbia v Côte d'Ivoire Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai

2008-08-13
19:45 Côte d'Ivoire v Australia Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium, Tianjin

2008-08-13
19:45 Argentina v Serbia Beijing Workers' Stadium, Beijing


GROUP B

2008-08-07
17:00 Japan v USA Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium, Tianjin

2008-08-07
19:45 Netherlands v Nigeria Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium, Tianjin

2008-08-10
17:00 Nigeria v Japan Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium, Tianjin

2008-08-10
19:45 USA v Netherlands Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium, Tianjin

2008-08-13
17:00 Netherlands v Japan Shenyang Olympic Stadium, Shenyang

2008-08-13
17:00 Nigeria v USA Beijing Workers' Stadium, Beijing

GROUP C

2008-08-07
17:00 Brazil v Belgium Shenyang Olympic Stadium, Shenyang

2008-08-07
19:45 China PR v New Zealand Shenyang Olympic Stadium, Shenyang

2008-08-10
17:00 New Zealand v Brazil Shenyang Olympic Stadium, Shenyang

2008-08-10
19:45 Belgium v China PR Shenyang Olympic Stadium, Shenyang

2008-08-13
19:45 China PR v Brazil Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, Qinhuangdao

2008-08-13
19:45 New Zealand v Belgium Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai


GROUP D

2008-08-07
17:00 Honduras v Italy Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, Qinhuangdao

2008-08-07
19:45 Korea Republic v Cameroon Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, Qinhuangdao

2008-08-10
17:00 Cameroon v Honduras Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, Qinhuangdao

2008-08-10
19:45 Italy v Korea Republic Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, Qinhuangdao

2008-08-13
17:00 Korea Republic v Honduras Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai

2008-08-13
17:00 Cameroon v Italy Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium, Tianjin


Quarter Final

Match 25 2008-08-16
18:00 Group C Winner v Group D Runner-up Shenyang Olympic Stadium, Shenyang

Match 26 2008-08-16
18:00 Group D Winner v Group C Runner-up Beijing Workers' Stadium, Beijing

Match 27 2008-08-16
21:00 Group A Winner v Match 27 Group B Runner-up Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai

Match 28 2008-08-16
21:00 Group B Winner v Group A Runner-up Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, Qinhuangdao


Semi Final

Match 29 2008-08-19
18:00 Match 26 Winner v Match 28 Winner Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai

Match 30 2008-08-19
21:00 Match 25 Winner v Match 27 Winner Beijing Workers' Stadium, Beijing

Bronze Medal Final

2008-08-22
19:00 Semifinals Losers Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai

Gold Medal Final

2008-08-23
12:00 National Stadium, Beijing