OS Beijing 2008 Paralympics Olympics Pekin

It took only a single goal, to earn gold. Lionel Messi and friends have been terrific along the tournament in Beijing, and their efforts just paid off. 1-0 the final score, with 5 minutes of additional time ended Nigeria’s hopes of another golden medal.

Argentina just earned its 4^th Olympic medal overall, of which 2 silver rewards and 2 golden medals in a row (2004’s Athens, 2008’s Beijing).

1^st half of the game included chances for both sides: Lionel Messi for the tango team was architecting many deliveries of the ball while Okoronkwo and obemwingie were leading Africa’s attacks. Although Argentina possessed the ball for the longest part of the half, Africans were clearly more dangerous, bidding on a first half opener and a calm break. Blue and White jerseys weren’t that easy, unwilling to compromise in the final game for gold, and opting to revenge their loss in Atlanta’s games.

As the 2^nd half got whistled on, South Americans looked a bit better with an excess of energy, maybe experience too while Africa’s hopes were not being at their performace’s peak.The advantage was rapidly clear on the score board, when Angel DE Maria gave the lead for the tango boys (58th minute ); he was served by Magical Lionel Messi who pulled the defense towards him, leaving a gap, from where he delivered the ball.

Despite the African attempts to find an equalizer, Nigeria was unable to find the back of the net and were always missing on scorers but that didn’t stop them from trying and creating lanes. Sergio Romero, Argentina’s goal keeper made a pretty nice job out there keeping the Tango’s web safe.

Referees signaled 5 extra minutes into the game, and that wasn’t enough to break the South American defensive lines.

TV channels reflected how thankful Football fans are for Barcelona that allowed Messi’s presence in Beijing’s Olympics; the new Maradona’s magic touches were the main attraction in the soccer tournament as he led his nation’s team for gold medals.

Notice that season 2007-2008 seems too promising for Argentina: sports news are pointing at it as the best team in the world, and a definitely winning bet. Despite Ronaldinho’s Brazil, Tangos were leading in the betting sites and panels and that maybe pushed them further more into winning!

Nigeria’s silver medal isn’t much of a disappointment, it’s been a while since the African team has been rewarded; they must be very satisfied with the result especially that they were not in their best shapes today…

Lithuanians have Reached 4 Olympic semi-finals in a row and that’s definitely an achievement to admire! Spain and its stars faced a really tough opponent in the semi-final, while missing on the lead several times; it was a very close game while injured Jose Manuel Calderon (NBA Toronto raptors) was just supporting from the bench seats.

Despite the presence of NBA star Pau Gasol (NBA Los Angeles Lakers), Lithuanians managed to keep up with the level and the score of the game. The leaders of Group A in preliminaries were really hard to overcome and Spaniards were having a real test, in addition to the threat of being brought down!

17 year-old Ricky Rubio absolutely fascinated the crowds, and some of the challenger’s players; TV viewers will be thrilled to see him grow up in Basketball jerseys.

During the game, Spain was aware of the need to cover the long range lane and showed a great balance between defense and offense. At the end, they were better and deserved to win in this intense battle (91-86)

Lithuania made 6 of 13(46%) from long range in the 2^nd quarter, taking the lead on the break.

Spanish coach Aito Garcia saluted the magnificent efforts of Lithuania who clearly evolved since the 2 teams were put face to face in what seemed like a massacre for Lithuanian Basketball early in the summer (91-66).

Finalist Spain’s bid on facing a sturdy and unbending Lithuania in this semi-final of Beijing was a wisely put bet but they allocated all their resources towards leaving the Olympics with a respectful image that suits the world champions: they are in the final game, in a rematch of their match with the USA’s Dream team.

What will Spain be betting on this time?

For the crowds and TV viewers, 96 minutes of anticipation and mental strain were needed to hear the final whistle and see the winner of this football carnival! As for the players, it was definitely the longest minutes of their lives, thus the greatest feeling ever for the Americans who won again in Olympics, beating Brazil by 1 goal after 6 minutes from the additional period.

The 1^st 30 minute of the match illustrated the intense fear and respect shared among the 2 poles of the game, with 22 ladies fighting for every ball and a crowded defensive area at each side of the field. What started like an American domination was terminated by a parade of skills from Marta and Cristianne, who made the Yankees get into a very stressful 20 minutes. Luckily, the score was 0 to 0 at the break and no damage was made.

USA’s won 3 Football gold medals in 4 Olympics; 2 rewards in a row (Beijing’s2008- Athens2004)

FIFA’s best player of the year, Marta, was closely guarded and insistently double teamed with every ball possession, in order to paralyze the master Samba’s key to success. German policy of bugging Marta was a good placed bet to keep her away from scoring.

Both teams proved to earn a final game, and went into over time; another chance to end the game before the penalty lucky kicks. Extra time is an advantage to the North Americans who proved to have a better physical endurance in the last minutes. Carli Lloyd put the surplus of power and energy into action and stroke Brazil’s web (96th minute) with the most precious goal in Beijing’s Olympics.

Simply, it was gold worthy goal, and that’s all what mattered in fact for the BACK to BACK champions. As for the Samba girls, a nation’s bidding on them to achieve what the men’s team couldn’t do failed again; Beijing’s a disaster for Brazilian football, yet, a paradise for the USA.

The Russian team was playing aggressively, fighting over every ball and leading the game on many occasions all along 3 quarters. Despite a Russian lead over the 1^st quarter and a part of the 2^nd, the final minutes of the 3^rd period were a wake-up call for the Americans who knew that their only way to regain leadership is through a good defensive line up especially that bidding on shooting from long range (area of expertise) wasn’t much of a winning bet.

Out-rebounded Russians were starting to lose grip, while making plenty of turnovers allowing the Basketball jerseys of America to pull out 22 steals!!

Russia’s counting on American’s origin Becky Hammon to lead the score was a badly placed bet;

she scored 3 points with 0 out of 4 from long range.

Maria Stepanova led Russia in scoring with 14 points.

Diana Taurasi made the top of the scoring sheet with 21 points and

9 re

bounds, Tina Thompson hit 15 and 4 boards. Defensively, Silvia Fowles caught 10 recoveries next to Tamika Catchings’ sickly sweet defense.

Becky Hammon who gave up for the strength of Uncle Sam’s defense will face China for a bronze medal; USA moved into the final game against Aussies to play on gold.

A match that’s much anticipated by all fans, sports betting sites and sports news for being an ultimate attraction.

Coach Anne Donovan said that Russia has improved a lot, and that victory is due to the calm nerves. This was a very important introduction

to what the final game will look like against the Opals.

It seems that Yao Ming’s suffering from Chinese sports news will not be over soon, blaming the NBA center of Houston Rockets and pointing at him as a disappointing out-performer.

Chinese Nation betting on Yao’s domination under the opponent’s baskets was surprised to see their local team struggle to go through into the quarter finals, after a very bad show in the 1^st round.

Lithuania, leader of group A in preliminaries and a favorite of playing the final game didn’t have much difficulty during the 40 minutes. The European team eased itself by taking the lead since the beginning, growing a difference of 9 points at the break, and increasing it to 26 dots within the final whistle while sending the Dragons out of the tournament.

Beijing’s semi-final is Lithuania’s 5^th final 4

In a row

3rd quarter was the game’s turning point as they broke free scoring and taking advantage of 2^nd chances while the Chinese defense was unorganized at all. Despite Yao’s 19 points and 7 boards, Lithuania’s team-play on offense was bringing down the China wall of giants, not to mention the long range shots of Sarunas rimming in  5 out of 6 and leading the scoring sheet by 23.

Downtown attempts:

Lithuania averaged 42% (13/31)

China averaged 19% (4/21)

2 points trials:

66% for Lithuania

47% for China

Lithuania’s triumph today, settles a European semi-final against Spain. Spanish line up is trying to preserve its image of world champions what makes the game promising and intense. Sports news in Spain are putting a lot of pressure on their national team, that earlier in preliminaries was facing severe critics due to their humiliating loss against the USA. Lithuania’s bid will be on stopping Pau’s domination, as a key to winning while the Spaniards’ concern will be the coverage of their 3 points lane.

Odds and expectations are wide open with both teams capable of creating “bolt from the blue” and playing for Beijing’s gold! Basketball tickets are on the way of being sold out, while some grapevines mentionned black marketing!

Tony Jeffries faces Kenny Egan in semi finals after beating and out performing his opponent Imre Szello of hungry. Taking the lead in all 3 rounds, Tony ended the game with 10-2, leaving behind the quarter finals, and focusing on the semis.

Fighting like a destroying machine, he was too strong for the Hungarian who stood all along the 4 rounds.

Despite his 23 years of age, Tony Jeffries looks like a promising talent for the future of the game, mainly for team Britain who will be betting on his success in his next game against the Irish Kenny Egan.

Notice that Egan is the silver medalist of the European championship in 2006, and with tons of experience and power, the rewarded wouldn’t give the youth British an easy game, especially that they reached the last 2 stages before wearing gold in Beijing! A game of risk for both players and for betting fans is impatiently awaited; it will set the ticket holder of the final game!

Li Yang was out-scored earlier today by Ukraine’s silver medalist in Athens. 12-3 was the final count in favor of the tournament’s favorite in Beijing: Vasyl who had beaten both the world champion and all the expectations posted by sports betting sites since the 1^st round, qualified on behalf of the Albert Selimov.

In the final 4, Ukraine’s boxer will face Yakup Kilic in a game that decides who will have a ticket into final game in chase of the gold medal.

Both teams were cautious, and much alerted. Exchanging balls with no specific purpose, or drawn plans, it came up clear that everyone was betting on the other to take the 1^st step. 90 minutes of low level soccer jaded the crowds in Shenyang Olympic stadium.

Dagmova Dakmar ordered the kick off: this is over-time, and the boring process seemed infinite.

Odds were all thrown away, as German selection scored twice in the extra time. Kerstin(105^th) And Simone Laudehr (115^th) held Deutschland up in score, earning a ticket into the semi finals.

Germans will have to face Brazil, for the passage into the final game. With both teams looking like a winning bet to stand up tall with gold, some Sports news concluded that it’s an early final.

Individually, I wouldn’t bet on 1 team, knowing the United States ladies are also capable of making a good game, both physically and mentally