Soccer > Day by Day Recap

An Olympic tournament that almost began as 'the one without Messi' will instead be remembered as 'Messi's golden Games.' Argentina downed Nigeria 1-0 on a searing-hot Saturday to win men's soccer gold medal, and not without more than a little help from its wily playmaker, Lionel Messi. The one fans call 'the Flea' took a nasty bite at Nigeria's stingy defense, sending a perfect through-ball past the Africans' backline that Argentina forward Angel di Maria caught in-stride and promptly lobbed over the head of a helpless Ambruse Vanzekin, the Nigerian goalkeeper who had allowed just three goals in five previous matches. Messi's creative brilliance was on display throughout the gold-medal match, as it had been all tournament long. With good reason, Messi's first Games was gold.

Brazil downed the overachieving Belgians 3-0 in the men's bronze-medal match. While the Brazilians' excitement level was noticeably diminished at the beginning of the match, the yellow-shirted superstars put on a technically impressive performance that offered some consolation with a bronze medal and winning their final match of the tournament. In doing so, Brazil became the first nation to earn medals in both men's and women's soccer at the same Games (the women won a silver medal). Diego's opening goal was the most fundamentally perfect goal of the tournament, and with a pair of goals from Jo, Brazil once again proved to the world that it is capable of nothing less than joga bonita.

Nearly a year ago, starting U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo was left out of the starting-11 for the Americans' Women's World Cup semifinal against Brazil. The U.S. lost that match - costing then-coach Greg Ryan his job and causing Solo to be banished from the team after she publicly criticized the decision. Now the world has a good idea of what might have been. Solo's performance in the Beijing Games' final will long be remembered as one of the greatest performances ever by a goalkeeper, and in shutting out the brilliant Brazilian attack, the once-ostracized and much-maligned netminder enabled her team to escape with a 1-0 extra-time triumph.

The much-anticipated Messi-Ronaldhino showdown arrived at last, as Argentina and Brazil both won all of their games leading up to this mouth-watering semifinal. The former Barcelona teammates did not disappoint, providing an exciting match that went end-to-end. Brazil's finishing-touch was lacking, however, while the Argentines made the most of their chances. With a little help from a second 'hand of God' goal, Messi's side punched its ticket to the finals with a 3-0 win. In the other semifinal, Nigeria's high-flying 'Dream Team IV' blasted Belgium 4-1, setting up an exciting gold-medal pairing of two athletic teams featuring stingy defenses and talented ballhandlers.

After drawing 0-0 in group play, Germany and Brazil faced each other again in the women's semifinals. Brazil's 4-1 victory was anything but expected, as the Germans had not surrendered a single goal all tournament up to that point. In the other semifinal, the United States and Japan also met for the second time in the tournament, and while Japan played well, the Asian upstarts appeared physically overmatched by their American opponents. Some sloppy goalkeeping didn't help the Japanese effort, and the U.S. cruised to a 4-2 victory over Asia's impressive overachievers.

Argentina's young maestro Lionel Messi delivered a masterpiece in the quarterfinals against the Netherlands. With Argentina's greatest player, Diego Maradona, watching from the stands, the 21-year-old Messi opened the scoring with a solo effort that he capped with a brilliant split-second shot adjustment to dupe the Dutch defense. Then his extra-time feed to Angel di Maria was a legend-maker that catapulted Argentina into a semifinal showdown with South American rivals Brazil.

The women's quarterfinals treated fans to some thrilling match-ups between familiar foes. The United States survived a rain-soaked thriller with Canada, while Brazil made its medal intentions known at Norway's expense. And as the Germans and Swedes took their European battle into extra time, Japan staked its claim as Asia's new guard against the once-dominant Chinese.

After being just moments away from securing a quarterfinal berth in their second match, the U.S. men suffer a crushing 2-1 defeat to Nigeria, eliminating the Americans from the quarterfinals. The end-to-end contest will be best remembered for U.S. defender Michael Orozco's third-minute red card, which force the Americans to play down a man for nearly the entire match.

The U.S. women blew past New Zealand with a 4-0 win, while Japan shocked Norway with a 5-1 victory that earned the Japanese a quarterfinals berth and put the Americans on top in Group G. For Norway, an ominous quarterfinal contest with Brazil lay ahead.

Flying high off their 1-0 win over Japan, the U.S. men's team entered its match-up with the Netherlands unfazed by the Dutch's traditional status as a soccer superpower. The Americans overcame a 1-0 deficit to go ahead 2-1 in the second half. And then the unthinkable happened...

Reeling from its stunning 2-0 loss to Norway in its opener, the United States re-focused and pulled out a tight 1-0 victory over a stronger-than-expected Japanese side.

Despite the Court of Arbitration for Sport's ruling the day before that clubs were not required to release their players to the Olympic national teams, Lionel Messi took to the pitch and immediately made his intentions known.

Women's soccer kicked off the Beijing Games, with 12 teams squaring off as group play began on Day -2, as in two days before the opening ceremony. The U.S. women were stunned in their opener, losing 2-0 to Norway on a pair of early goals - the United States' first and only loss under coach Pia Sundhage.