Today it is the draw! The following teams have been qualified for the tournament. AFC: The Asian qualifying road consisted of two preliminary stages and one final round. In the end, Australia, Korea Republic and Japan finished top of their respective groups to reach the finals in Beijing. The trio joins China PR, who qualify automatically as hosts. CAF: The third and final round of qualifying groups ran from June 2007 to March 2008. Group winners Nigeria (Group A), Cote d'Ivoire (Group B) and Cameroon (Group C) all reached Beijing. UEFA: The UEFA U-21 Championship 2007, played between 10 and 23 June 2007, served as the qualifying competition. Netherlands, the tournament hosts and holders, retained the trophy to lead a quartet that also included beaten finalists Serbia and Belgium. With the other semi-finalists, England, ineligible to compete in the Olympics, a play-off between Italy and Portugal on 21 June provided the Azzurrini with the fourth and final qualiying slot. CONCACAF: By reaching the final of the eight-team CONCACAF qualifying tournament in the USA in March, the host Americans and Honduras booked passage to Beijing 2008. OFC: The final qualifying tournament will take place in Fiji in March 2008 by way of a six-team round robin including New Zealand, Fiji, Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The winner will qualify as the lone Oceania representative for Beijing 2008. CONMEBOL: Brazil and Argentina, winners and runners-up respectively at the South American U-20 Championship in Paraguay in January 2007, became the first two teams to book their places at the Men's Olympic Football Tournament at Beijing 2008. Who will win this tournament? I think Argenina is the favorite to win the tournament.
Twenty-eight sides discovered the hurdles they will have to overcome to reach the second round in this year's Olympic Football Tournaments when the official draw took place today in Beijing, the capital of China PR. The line-up for the group stage of the global competition, which will be staged in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao from 6 to 23 August, threw up pairings that are interesting and exciting in equal measure. On the men's side hosts China, who will appear in only their second Olympic football tournament, will play group matches in Shenyang against New Zealand, Belgium and Brazil, who are eager to win their first Olympic title. Defending champions Argentina will have to go through Australia, and a pair of first-timers, Côte d'Ivoire and Serbia. In Group B, former champions Nigeria lock horns with Netherlands, Japan and USA. Group D features two former gold winners Italy and Cameroon, with both Korea Republic and Honduras more than capable of causing major upsets. Men's Draw results Group A (Shanghai): Côte d'Ivoire, Argentina, Australia, Serbia Group B (Tianjin): Netherlands, Nigeria, Japan, USA Group C (Shenyang): China, New Zealand, Brazil, Belgium Group D (Qinhuangdao): Korea Republic, Cameroon, Honduras, Italy
But you guys all forgot that the Netherlands have won a lot with U20 male soccer so i will and would bet for the Netherlands because they will easily beat the rest. with fopke de haan as coach i am sure they have this Gold medal in pocket so the netherlands has already won 1 here
Here the Chinese squad for the Olympics Squad for the 2008 Olympics Goalkeepers Qiu Shengjiong Shanghai Shenhua September 1, 1985(1985-09-01) (age 22) 0 0 0 0 0 Liu Zhenli Qingdao Jonoon June 26, 1985(1985-06-26) (age 23) 0 0 0 0 0 Defenders Li Weifeng* Shanghai Shenhua December 1, 1978(1978-12-01) (age 29) 0 0 0 0 0 Yuan Weiwei Shandong Luneng November 25, 1985(1985-11-25) (age 22) 0 0 0 0 0 Feng Xiaoting Dalian Shide October 22, 1985(1985-10-22) (age 22) 0 0 0 0 0 Wan Houliang Shaanxi Chanba February 25, 1986(1986-02-25) (age 22) 0 0 0 0 0 Tan Wangsong Tianjin Teda December 19, 1985(1985-12-19) (age 22) 0 0 0 0 0 Lü Jianjun Changchun Yatai August 1, 1985(1985-08-01) (age 23) 0 0 0 0 0 Midfielders Zheng Zhi* (C) Charlton Athletic August 20, 1980(1980-08-20) (age 27) 0 0 0 0 0 Zhao Xuri Dalian Shide December 3, 1985(1985-12-03)(age 22) 0 0 0 0 0 Zhou Haibin Shandong Luneng July 19, 1985(1985-07-19)(age 23) 0 0 0 0 0 Cui Peng Shandong Luneng May 31, 1987(1987-05-31) (age 21) 0 0 0 0 0 Hao Junmin Tianjin Teda March 24, 1987(1987-03-24) (age 21) 0 0 0 0 0 Jiang Ning Qingdao Jonoon September 1, 1986(1986-09-01) (age 21) 0 0 0 0 0 Chen Tao Changsha Ginde March 11, 1985(1985-03-11) (age 23) 0 0 0 0 0 Forwards Han Peng* Shandong Luneng September 13, 1983(1983-09-13) (age 24) 0 0 0 0 0 Gao Lin Shanghai Shenhua February 14, 1986(1986-02-14) (age 22) 0 0 0 0 0 Dong Fangzhuo Manchester United January 23, 1985(1985-01-23) (age 23) 0 0 0 0 0 Coach Yin Tiesheng August 16, 1956(1956-08-16) (age 51) A very experience squad. A lot of them already played for the national A team.
China up against Brazil again will be challenge(similar to when they were in world cup 2002). Most recently China's Mens team have been doing very poor, as a result failed to qualify for 2010 world cup. This should be at least something that they can look at and make it past the first round.
