London 2012: Men's Olympic Football Tournament [R for ALL results]

Asia and Africa got .5 extra due to Europe not being awarded an extra spot due gb being host

 

The general problem is that the best young players sometimes are unable to go to the Olympics, simply because the clubs aren't obliged to let them. In the end most teams are "B"-ish, except for Brazil / Argentina, who lately have managed to cope with this.

 

It will be interesting to see whether there will be a better turnout rate in an Olympics hosted by a country with the league owning a lot of the good players. The domestic leagiues of Greece, China, Australia and the US are not amont the top leagues in the world and their clubs do not own the players involved.

 

I couldn't believe how bad Australia wa in Olympic qualifying, they got about all the players they wanted. UAE qualifying was a massive surprise as well.

does Asia and Africa getting the extra .5 even make sense when South America only has 2, the same as CONCACAF???

 

I'm not sure where you got this about getting all the players wanted. No European based players played in the qualifiers and there was a restriction placed on the coach about only using a maximum of 3 players from each Australian Club for the away games. Probably wouldn't have made any difference in the end (well maybe we would have got a goal in one of the matches) as all sides in Olympic Qualifiers have the same problems. On the plus side, the defence was pretty reasonable only conceding goals in two games. UAE have had some very good youth teams in recent times that are at around Olympic age now. Their results weren't a surprise to most.

 

i was under the impression some european-based players participated in the away legs my mistake. improving talent aside, for UAE to actually go out and dominate with everything on the line, i thought was still surprising.

who's getting the direct route to the grand final, roar or mariners?

 

I go for Brisbane. I still think they have more talent.

 

I guess we can count the USA out now...

 

Yup, amazing twists and turns in the CONCACAF qualifying. Not a good night for those trying to sell tickets to the final tournament.

 

Realistically, I doubt it will make much difference. How many Americans would have gone and watched the US team play? Some would, but probably not in large numbers. Plus the US team is hardly a draw for UK fans, who will make up the majority of the spectators.

 

Senegal - Oman playoff match in Coventry, maybe a sign of things to come for the English public, will they get out in force or forever be submerged in the PL goldfish bowl rather than watch different styles of football? English football fans are english football fans, they aren't football fans.

 

How have the crowds been during the Asian qualifying tournament?

 

Depends who your watching, the final playoff round hosted in Vietnam was 1000 - 1200 - if can be believed.

Oman had decent crowds - 5000 to 10000. Japan and Korea also exceptional. Australia rather pitiful at 2,000 mark. Malaysia 30,000 mark. ll depends which team, and the expectations and the side in general. Malaysia for example, you will always see thousands for the national team at any age but no one for domestic games. Australia on the other hand, not many turn up for youth teams. But i get the feeling, not many turn up in Australia for youth teams but ex-pat Aussies would turn up in force to see them abroad, Not happening though.

 

to be frank, is there anywhere in the world where a Senegal v Oman match would draw a decent crowd?

The problem with Olympic football isn't so much the limited appeal of some of the teams involved (although it doesn't help) but more the low regard Olympic football is held in generally in the UK.

 

I'm pretty sure France, Spain, Italy would pull in a decent crowd, mainly due to the amount of Senegalese immigrants.

 

That doesn't really point to a mass of interest among the public though, does it? Jamaica gets decent crowds in England for friendlies, after all, just the same.

 

What are we calling a decent crowd? Coventry average about 15000 for their home games. How many do we expect to turn up for a midweek qualifying match?

I considered it, but there's no late train to get me back home the same day, and it's not worth staying over. I will be going to some of the finals games though.

 

Same. I imagine about 4,000 will go to Coventry. The late kickoff is a problem.

 

A crowd is a crowd. Does it matter whether or not it consists 100% of Jamaicans or not?

 

Not to me, but it wasn't me moaning about the low expected crowd for Senegal v Oman.

 

After watching the Mexico - Canada game, I cannot comprehend how in the heck the US lost to them, Canada looked so very limited, its true vs the US, it was a different kind of game, Canada beat the US in the same style the US implements, a physical, long ball, sort of cagey affair, but even still, I cannot believe, after what Canada displayed against Mexico, that it was enough to beat a US team that on paper, is way better, or is it? I'm just baffled at the moment.

 

Best Team that didn't qualify: Colombia.

More than half their starting team are under 23 and the other players who are under 23 are better than the starters.

Yet South American Qualifiers were based on a sub-20 tournament Colombia didn't even play in because they were already qualified to the Sub 20 world cup .

GG CONMEBOL

 

What's so baffling about it? It wasn't just one match. The US tied El Salvador too, who was another team well below Mexico's level.

 

I'm actually kind of glad the U.S. didn't make it. We are going to need some of those players against Antigua and Guatemala in World Cup qualifiers, and they would be occupied by the Olympics camp instead if they had won. Its a lame tournament anyway. Many top teams aren't going to be there. The U.S. is going to win plenty of medals regardless. And there is a brewing firestorm over callups due to the Olympics being left off the official match calendar.

http://espn.go.com/sports/conversations/_/id/7764755/fifa-insists-enforce-olympic-games-release-rule

This won't be the last you hear about that, the tension between the clubs and FIFA is at an all-time high right now. The ECA is itching to pick a fight with FIFA this summer, and the Olympics are going to be the catalyst for it. Not only are many top teams not here, but it wouldn't shock me if lots of Spanish and Brazilian players get refused callups. The Bundesliga clubs in particular seem especially belligerent, and since Germany was eliminated a long time ago there was no potential U-23 qualifier more threatened by the Bundesliga than the United States. Now the Japan and Switzerland U-23s can enjoy that nightmare all to themselves.