trimster wrote:

QUOTE:
Yes, it will be really interesting to see what happens. The Brits will look like stuck up prats if they don't enter a team in their own olympic football tournament. On the other hand, if they do enter one, there will be so much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth over the supposed implications, that you will never hear the end of it....

That's before we even think about the wailing and gnashing of teeth that will come after we get dumped out in the first round with no goals scored.

Well, if they're not [impressed by Mascherano's golds], they should be. It's a fantastic achievement.

It wasn't a bad Final, considering the heat and the state of the pitch... certainly a better one than four years ago. Argentina had that little bit of extra edge in coolness and class in their attacking play, otherwise there was not that much between the two teams. Argentina certainly didn't dominate to the extent that people were predicting here at the start of this thread (I think someone said that Argentina would win the final 5-0, no matter whom they played against...)

Messi was involved in a bit of niggle with the Nigerians at half time. He and Riquelme showed glimpses of class throughout the tournament, but I really think it was their defence that won it for them.

Some of the more well-known medallists down the years

2004
Gold Argentina
Roberto Ayala
Fabricio Coloccini
Andrés D'Alessandro
Cristian 'Kily' González
Gabriel Heinze
Javier Mascherano
Javier Saviola
Carlos Tévez

Bronze Italy
Andrea Barzagli
Giorgio Chiellini
Daniele De Rossi
Alberto Gilardino
Andrea Pirlo
Coach: Claudio Gentile


2000
Gold Cameroon
Samuel Eto'o
Lauren
Carlos Kameni
Patrick Mboma
Geremi
Patrick Suffo

Silver Spain
David Albelda
Miguel Angel Angulo
Joan Capdevila
Xavier Hernández
Albert Luque
Carlos Marchena
Carles Puyol
Raúl Tamudo

Bronze Chile
Iván Zamorano

1996
Gold Nigeria
Daniel Amokachi
Celestine Babayaro
Victor Ikpeba
Nwankwo Kanu
Jay-Jay Okocha
Taribo West

Silver Argentina
Roberto Ayala
Christian Bassedas
José Chamot
Hernán Crespo
Marcelo Gallardo
Claudio Lopez
Ariel Ortega
Roberto Sensini
Diego Simeone
Javier Zanetti
Coach: Daniel Passarella

Bronze Brazil
Dida
Aldair
Ronaldo
Flavio Conceicao
Roberto Carlos
Bebeto
Juninho
Rivaldo
Savio
Coach: Mario Zagallo

1992
Gold Spain
Santiago Cańizares
Abelardo Fernández
Albert Ferrer
Josep Guardiola
Luis Enrique

Silver Poland
Dariusz Adamczuk
Marek Kozminski
Piotr Swierczewski

Bronze Ghana
Nii Lamptey
Samuel Osei Kuffour
Alex Nyarko

1988
Gold Soviet Union
Igor Dobrovolski
Dmitry Kharin
Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko

Silver Brazil
Bebeto
Careca
Jorginho
Romário
Cláudio Taffarel

Bronze West Germany
Thomas Häßler
Jürgen Klinsmann
Karl-Heinz Riedle

1984
Gold France
Guy Lacombe
Coach: Henri Michel

Silver Brazil
Dunga

Bronze Yugoslavia
Tomislav Ivkovic
Srecko Katanec
Dragan Stojkovic

1980
Bronze USSR
Rinat Dasaev
Alexandre Chivadze
Oleg Romantsev
Vladimir Bessonov
Sergej Baltacha

1976
Gold East Germany
Jürgen Croy

Silver Poland
Jan Tomaszewski
Wladyslaw Zmuda
Grzegorz Lato
Henryk Kasperczak
Kazimierz Deyna
Andrzej Szarmach

Bronze USSR
David Kipiani
Oleg Blokhin

1972
Gold Poland
Kazimierz Deyna
Grzegorz Lato

Bronze USSR
Oleg Blokhin

Bronze East Germany
Jürgen Croy
Jürgen Sparwasser

1964
Gold Hungary
Ferenc Bene
János Farkas
Károly Palotai

1960
Bronze Hungary
Flórián Albert

1956
Gold USSR
Lev Yashin
Eduard Streltsov

1952
Gold Hungary
Gyula Grosics
Ferenc Puskás
Zoltán Czibor
Jenő Buzánszky
József Bozsik
Nándor Hidegkuti
Sándor Kocsis
Péter Palotás

1948
Gold Sweden
Gunnar Gren
Gunnar Nordahl
Nils Liedholm

why wasn't nigeria's best player playing?

Alfonso, Kiko, Amavisca and Mikel Lasa also played for Spain in 1992.

The Careca who won silver for Brazil in 1988 was a different Careca from the famous one who played for Napoli.

That USSR-Brazil game was fantastic. I remember each side had a player sent off in extra-time, and then Yurii Savichev scored the winner with a great lob over Taffarel after being put clean through.

Trimster - in Toro's defence, I doubt he realised the final would be scheduled quite so ridiculously when he wrote that.

And going back to the early pages of the thread reminded me of Cantering Captain - how did it go, if you're reading this?!

Hieronymus of Hesselink wrote:

QUOTE:
Alfonso, Kiko, Amavisca and Mikel Lasa also played for Spain in 1992.

I was a bit tired when I did it.