This is the best gossip I got from inside the olympic Village (actually the second best, but the first one I will have to take to my grave). It is not new at all that players like Rafa Nadal, Ronaldinho, Kobe Bryant, and many others are like idols for the others misters and misses nobody from the Olympics.

"I was sorry for Nadal. He can't have lunch, he needs to take pictures with athletes every two minutes", told me a table tennis guy. "I saw Yao Ming being rude to a guy that asked for a pic", told me another.

These two guys and two others confirmed to me that Messi can walk alone the whole day that nobody wants to take a picture with him. "Nobody knows him", told me a girl from Brazilian volleyball.

Anyway, if nobody wants to talk to Lionel, Kobe Bryant himsel said he was dying to get to know the Argentinean. Kobe was at Brazil x Argentina game and also at the football final.

BEIJING (CHINA) - Ambruse Vanzekin probably crossed Isinbayeva at the Olympic Village in his way to the Bird's Nest to play against Argentina the final.

This is the only reasonable excuse for the Nigerian keeper to go out of his small area to try to stop Argentina. This move was really unfortunate. Di Maria had no chance to score if the keeper stayed 'at home'.

Anyway, maybe this is hust my Brazilian part trying to believe Nigeria could win. But Argentina was the best and now they got this second gold medal and we don't have any (in football, in the overall standings at the Olympics Brazil comes first, of course).

 

My chat with the girl in the picture next to the Bird’s Nest was something like this...

- Hi, do you like Brazil?
- I love Beijing. I live here.
- Bra zil! BA GI (Brazil in Chinese). Brazil, not Beijing!
- Not so much
- What?
- Not so much. No.
- Really?
- Yes.
- Why are you wearing this t shirt anyway?
- I like the color

It is like Confucius always said: “Be honest and people will post about you at their blogs”

BEIJING (CHINA) - Communication is by far the biggest enigma from Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. It doesn’t matter if you know the name of your destination in Chinese. When you speak, they just don’t understand. The accent is so different that I already gave up.

For the worst moments, a telephone number with a friend who speaks the local language is the only option.

But, even the telephone can fail. So here is my sad history:

My accreditation is not valid for tennis. I am a huge fan of Roger Federer and I made a lot of effort to get a pass for one of his games. But, I had to do table tennis before as part of my work here. I had enough time. One hour left between the end of my article in the table tennis venue and the Olympic Green, where the tennis courts are.

So I asked a volunteer to help me to find a cab and tell him where he should go. They spoke 3 minutes in Chinese, looked at me and gave me lots of OK OK OK OK. After 50 minutes in the cab (wow) I was at the venue. 10 minutes to the game. Nice! I passed through security and finally I was there... in the BADMINTON VENUE!

I lost the game. Federer lost the game to James Blake. I definitely have to improve my Chinese beyond Ni Hao.  

BEIJING (CHINA) - Forget about Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and 'ping pong'. Get ready for some real action here in the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. Bring on your masks, cause the smog pollution we are obliged to breathe here every day will be heavier on Tuesday 19 when Brazil and Argentina comes to town and enter the field for the first time ever in an Olympic football competition. OleOle is here and we will be there!

This game should be the gold medal one on Saturday at the amazing Olympic Stadium, the Bird's Nest (pic from the field), but becomes even more tragic as one of the two lifetime rivals won’t have the opportunity to run for gold. Argentina is the defending champion. They qualified January 2007 in a dramatic match against Uruguay, decided in extra time.

For Brazil, gold medal is an obsession. Every player wants to give the first gold medal to the country. This title, the only major one Brazil never won it, would transform the 18 players and the permanent under pressure coach into heroes.

Romario (silver in 1988), Ronaldo (bronze in 1996) and Ronaldinho (quaterfinals 2000) are often called chokers cause they lost the Games in their times. Even Dunga, the Brazilian National Coach, got ‘just’ a silver medal in 1984 as a player.

Because this is huge in Brazil, every player wants to play. Ronaldinho and Kaká said no to Copa America last year in Venezuela, but they fought hard to be in Beijing. Kaká lost his personal battle with AC Milan but Ronaldinho had a master play by negotiating his absence from the same Italian team before he signed his new contract. Robinho, the best player in Copa America, was stopped from Real Madrid to join BNT in China. “He is very upset, he dreamt of being in the Olympics”, told me here Diego, his closest friend since they played together.

Diego himself, old enough to play for the under 23 team yet, had to escape from Werder Bremen to be part of the team, the same that Rafinha, from Schalke 04, had to do. “Win this medal is like a World Cup for us and besides, this place is so cool. If I have some time I want to watch the Dream Team playing basketball”, he completed.

Ronaldinho is the single star from Brazilian team. Argentina, one more time, seems stronger with Messi, Riquelme and Aguero. But let’s remember Brazil have won mostly of the most important games with a not so Joga Bonito team, including last Copa America.

CARDÍACOS! O Dr. Costantino Costantini arrumou o coração do Washington, que vive uma vida normal com seus stents. Pois o cardiologista bem que poderia estar de plantão no Maracanã nesta noite. Não pelo jogador, mas pelos outros tantos mil presentes. Tá louco... que jogo foi esse?

JUSTIÇA SEJA FEITA - A LDU jogou os primeiros 10 minutos. Fez o primeiro, quase fez o segundo. Depois, só atacou de novo depois do terceiro gol. Mas, quando jogou, jogou bem. Tanto lá quando cá. Não teve uma trajetória tão brilhante pelo caminho como teve o Fluminense, mas certamente é um grande campeão.

JUSTIÇA SEJA FEITA 2 - O Fluminense foi bravo. Virou um jogo depois de um golpe duro no começo. O título foi perdido naqueles 10 minutos de bobeira no primeiro tempo do primeiro jogo. Depois, o Flu foi melhor.

ESSA ZAGA... Durante o jogo, a zaga do Fluminense quase matou todo mundo do coração também. Erraram passes ridículos, atravessaram bolas muito perigosas na frente da área.

RENATO PERCEBEU e, ao meu ver, sabiamente só escalou os craques, os meias habilidosos e os atacantes para bater pênalti.

DEU NO QUE DEU e Conca, Thiago Neves e Washington perderam. Esse tal de futebol...

THIAGO NEVES viveu o céu e o inferno como faz tempo não se via no futebol. Estava iluminado. Fez três gols e perdeu duas chances de fazer o quarto. Em ambas (cabeçada que bateu na zaga e chute de canhota que goleiro pegou), fez a coisa certa. Coisas da vida.

CEVALLOS é o herói mais chato da história do futebol. Em pelo três ocasiões que eu contei, ele ficou mais de 6 segundos com a bola na mão. Em todos os tiros de meta ele fez cera. Nas cobranças de pênalti foi genial. Lembrando grandes goleiros catimbeiros da história do futebol. O que ele fez no pênalti do Thiago Neves eu não conheço precedentes na história do futebol. Nem o Henao foi tão chato!

FALTOU GÁS? Os dois times cansaram. Mas nitidamente o Flu cansou mais. Até porque o time correu demais durante os primeiros 60 minutos mais ou menos.

GUERRON - Eu achei que o Guerron tava morto. Aquele pique no lance da expulsão do Luis Alberto foi algo de extraordinário.

JUIZÃO foi mal. Mas para os dois lados. Se não deu um pênalti e permitiu que o goleirão mandasse nos pênaltis, anulou um gol legítimo dos caras no final da prorrogação.

LANTERNA - Não vai ser mole acordar nesta quinta-feira para o torcedor tricolor. De Tóquio a Segundona em questão de minutos de uma disputa de pênaltis.

LDU WHO? Uma possível final de Mundial entre LDU e Manchester United. Nem a loira nem a morena jamais poderiam imaginar uma coisa dessa, né não?

ESPERA QUE DEPOIS VAI TER MAIS NESTE POST...

He was the man of the year. I totally agree on the other two Fifa top 3 players, but both the game and the results give Kaká the lead in the top of the 2007 football world. Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi showed very good football during the whole year, very spectacular, but Kaká has got everything. The show and the results. He had amazing games for Milan in the Champions League. The final was not his best, but Milan would never be there without him. After refusing to play Copa America for Brazil (in my opinion, his only fault in 2007), he came back even stronger this season.Although Milan is having an awful season in Serie A, the team is strong enough (and will be better with Pato and Ronaldo fit) to fight for the second title in a row. And Kaká today is more importante than any other player in a team in the world. Every top team in Europe can count on two or three top players (Barcelona and Machester United included). Not AC Milan, a Kaka+10 team.But Kaká still had something to show in December. He was the man of the match in both games in the Fifa CWC. Against Boca Juniors, he scored once and assisted twice. But, the whole year is not finished yet for Kaká. He needs to show a little but more to beat Inter Milan next weekend. A defeat for Inter can put the whole season down. If Kaká does another amazing game, Milan fans can’t ask anything else to Santa Claus for Christmas. They already had Kaká this year.

Ele foi o melhor jogador da temporada. Até mesmo quando fez partidas abaixo de sua capacidade, foi importante para a equipe. Hoje foi um bom exemplo. Na partida contra o Celtic, não vinha bem, até que pegou uma bola, rolou para Cafu que cruzou para Inzaghi vencer a partida.

Levou um limitado Milan (ofensivamente), que durante todo 2007 ficou sem Ronaldo na Champions League, ao título. Fez partidas inacreditáveis nas oitavas, quartas e semi. Deu um passe na final para coroar seu jogo.

Na Seleção Brasileira, fora alguns amistosos, não foi o mesmo jogador. Fora da Copa América, não fez bons jogos com exceção do Equador no Maracanã. Uma sina, talvez, para nossos últimos melhores do mundo.

Fosse um europeu, Kaká poderia relaxar que o ano acabou. Com seu título na mão e a temporada terminada com o dever cumprido.

Mas Kaká é brasileiro e são-paulino e dá muito valor ao Mundial de Clubes. Mais uma vez, talvez a última, ainda não contará com um ataque 100% e talentoso. Ronaldo pode até ir, mas segue na sua temporada marcada por contusões musculares. E Pato só em janeiro.

Kaká já fez o suficiente. Podia muito bem parar por aí, Mas ao que tudo indica, pode não ser o bastante para 2007. O Boca que se cuide.

What a show Riquelme performed last night here in Brazil. Gremio had to win by 3 goals to take the game to Penalty kicks in the second leg of the great final of Copa Libertadores between Gremio and Boca Jrs.

In the first half, Gremio had probably their only chance when a Diego Souza hit the bar. After that, Boca Jrs and Riquelme dominated all the actions and the final result was Boca 2 x 0 Gremio. It could have been three, but Palermo, as usual, missed a penalty kick.

The penalty, by the way, was suffered by Riquelme, the man of the night, who had scored both goals for Boca, including an amazing shoot to open the score.

Riquelme now is expected to join Argentina for the Copa America (final list from Basile will be issued today) and also go back to Europe, althought there is already a big comotion in Buenos Aires to try to keep the player one more season or at least until the Fifa Club World Champions in December in Japan where the team could meet AC Milan in the great final.

Big night in Porto Alegre. For the first time as a professional player, Alexandre Pato will wear his number 11 jersey home. Internacional plays its second game at the Beira-Rio Stadium, in Porto Alegre. 2006 Copa Libertadores Champions try to get first 3 points after a come from behind lost against Nacional, at Uruguay, last week.

Alexandre Pato, the new Brazilian sensation, played only four professional games until tonight. The first one was at Sao Paulo, against Palmeiras. The next two games were in Japan, playing for the Fifa Club WC and last weekend he played for the State Championship another game on the road. He scored 3 times in these 4 games. I will be the first time ever that the Colorado Fans will have the opportunity to see the boy playing home.

1100 kilometers from there, Sao Paulo will play against Alianza Lima from Peru at Morumbi Stadium. Coach Muricy Ramalho will start Tricolor’s second game at the competition (the first one was a draw away) still without Jorge Wagner, former Internacional and Real Betis player, the most important transfer made by the club for the season.