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).

BEIJING (CHINA) - It was the night of the nights in Beijing. A full Worker’s Stadium watched a master class from Argentina against useless Ronaldinho’s Brazil. Kun Aguero (2) and Riquelme penalty kick put the defending gold medal champions into the Beijing Summer Olympics final.

A personal nightmare for me since I bet with this Argentinean journalist that each goal would of the final would turn into a scorpion-in-a-stick. Thanks a lot Ronaldinho! I had three and my stomach woke up very happy this morning.

Anyway, about the crowed and the experience: very nice. Chinese people were really (I mean reaaaally) divided into the two teams.

They probably wanted to see a good game only and maybe some Ronaldinho-Riquelme-Messi action. It is funny to see them watching the game. A throw in is already something to be cheered.

There were a few Brazilians and Argentineans among the 50 thousand fans in the game. You don’t’ need more than a hundred of them to make a lot of noise. During the first half the Chinese decided they had to watch the fans and not the game.

They were absolutely right as the game was zero entertainment. In the crowd, however, every PUTA or CARALHO or BOLUDO were celebrated by them. The Chinese definitely like Spanish and Portuguese dirty words. That was all new for them, like a movie or a joke. 

They also were introduced to people that doesn’t know how to loose. Brazilian’s anger with their own team is probably new for them team. Chinese have been so supportive with all their athletes, even the losers that they will never forget this moment. “How come your are offending Ronaldinho?” It takes a Brazilian to answer this question!

But, since I got here, let’s say, this is the first time I see a HOLA (Mexican wave) done without the big screen asking for it. Like a NBA show, here in Beijing, at Basketball, track n’ field, table tennis, beach volleyball, tennis and all others events I watched, the crowed had to be asked to do something. Nothing is spontaneous. Not very football, right? A football fan doesn’t need a D-FENCE sign to know when it is time to shout or not. But this time was different. The HOLA was started alone and the Chinese just forgot the game after that for at least round 10 laps.

In the second half, the game finally began. I mean Argentinean’s game, of course. Aguero twice (one out of play) and two shots by Brazil at the bar (Brazilian’s single two shots) made the boring game transform into real action. Brazil tried to do something but Ronaldinho and his young friends couldn’t show some offensive game.

The third goal, penalty kick from Riquelme, came out and Brazil completely lost its nerves. Lucas and Thiago Neves got red cards for violent plays and Brazil is now going for bronze against Belgium while Argentina and Nigeria will repeat 1996 Atlanta final when the African’s with inspired Kanu got the gold medal. Party that I had to watch the players doing at the bus.

After the game, I went to the press conference and mixed zone. Carlos Dunga, Brazilian Coach, said he will keep working with the team, but serious rumors put him out of his position after the bronze medal game or maybe against Chile, in Santiago, for the 2010 World Cup Qualifying.

I asked Lucas from Liverpool why he lost it after 3-0 and he was quite upset about it. He looked into my eyes and said it was completely unfair his red card (!!??). I don’t know what kind of football he had been playing in Liverpool but it seemed to me a red card call indeed.

Anderson from Man United said the score could not mirror what the game had been so far. Pato was sad cause he thought he had to play more minutes (Dunga put him on the bench after two terrible first games in the competition). 

Lots of excuses, but where Ronaldinho was? He didn’t show up. He was at the doping room, pissing, while Brazil’s 180 million people are quite pissed about him!

BEIJING (CHINA) - Brazil vs Argentina in a World Cup would be Premium football tickets. In Beijing, the semifinal in the Summer Olympics Games football competition is not so hard to get a ticket as they could be.

Popular, but not so much in China, football is also not a really winning medal sport to the hosts, which keep beating hard the Americans in the overall gold medal standings.

I have my own media pass to the game but I decided, in the name of this blog, walk around and talk to some of the guys selling tickets on major venues. Suprisingly, I could find many people selling them. No so cheap, of course, but I saw at least 30 tickets in less than 15 minutes.

The guys selling, with one or two exceptions, are Chinese guys and they definately don't look like professional resellers. They probably bought those tickets long time ago to make some money. I say that cause you could see one ticket only from each kind in thier hands, mostly of athletics and table tennis and badminton, very popular sports in China.

The football ticket official price category C costs 200 yuan. This is about U$ 33. The first guy that I met with a ticket told me he would sell it for 3,000 yuan. 1400% overprice (about U$ 500). I tried to negotiate but he said no.

I moved on and a couple of blocks away I found a pair of tickets. This time the guy said he would make 5,000 yuan for both. A better offer indeed. This guy could speak English a little so I tried, not to negotiate, but ask why those tickets were so ‘expensive’.

He probably knew about football as much as I know about badminton. Anyway, he was smart enough to buy those too a month ago e even smarter to study about the game he was seelling. He told me: “This game is better than the final.”

As we can see, the Chinese don’t necessarily need to know anything about what they are selling to make good business.       

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.

Tirei uma semana após a Copa América. Mas estou de volta. E nem por isso deixeir de acompanhar todos os posts e comentários da semana que passou.

Algo me chamou a atenção e me preocupa. Nosso estimado Esteban Crustille, figurinha carimbada nos coments dos principais blogueiros do País, que vive inclusive por aqui sempre enaltecendo as virtudes argentinas (concordo com várias) e menosprezando os brazucas (como ele gosta de dizer), SUMIU!

Espero que a saúde dele esteja boa. Espero que seja só um pouco de sofrimento e dor de cotovelo. O sofrimento faz crescer, dizem por aí. E que ele não tenha tido nada de mais grave.

Afinal, queremos Esteban de volta. Comentando e fazendo a gente ser mais brasileiro.

 

(Puerto La Cruz) - Não é notícia velha nem sacanagem. Depois da virada contra os Estados Unidos por 4 x 1, foi a vez dos argentinos virarem e dar de quatro novamente, desta vez com os colombianos. Ningué segura os caras.

- E o futebol colombiano, assim como o norte-americano, está definitivamente enterrado.

- Resta saber quem tem mais cabelo para gastar na rodada final. Porque os paraguaios meteram cinco na primeira e três na segunda. Como tomaram dois gols a menos, têm vantagem do empate. Força na peruca! Peluquerias de toda a América Latina vão parar para o jogo.

- Diego jogou no primeiro jogo e foi substituído no intervalo por Anderson, que jogou o segundo jogo e foi substituído no intervalo por Julio Baptista, que não amava ninguém, mas que tem grandes chances de ser a 'surpresa' contra o Equador. Os reservas treinaram e como Diego, Anderson e Julio Baptista estão no grupo dos reservas, não se sabe quem dos três será o titular.

- Não preciso dizer que eu insistiria em Diego ou Anderson.

- Os titulares foram para a piscina. E eu acompanhei uma parte do treino na piscina. Fala sério. Acompanhar treino na piscina é a coisa mais non-sense que um jornalista pode fazer na vida. Para fotógrafo é legal.As fotos geralmente são boas e divertidas.  Mas repórter? Que conclusão posso tirar eu da pernada de peito, um alongamento ou da batida de perna do Robinho? Chamem o Xuxa pra comentar a Copa América em vez do Pan.

- Para terminar, uma historinha venezuelana. Episódio de hoje: trocar dólares por bolívares.

- A moeda aqui é o Bolívar (se a família do nosso amgo Simão Bolívar cobrasse direito autoral de tudo que leva seu nome na América Latina, estaria rica por gerações). Cada dólar, pelo câmbio oficial, vale cerca de 2100, 2200 bolívares. Como eu tinha a preciosa dica de um amigo que esteve aqui semanas antes, eu já sabia que o canal era trocar com taxistas.

- Qualquer taxista troca para você um dólar por 3000 bolívares. Mas espere. Não ligue ainda!

- Em hotéis bacanas, como o da seleção, alguns seguranças trocam seu dólar por 3500 bolívares.

- Mas, dizem, se você tem cara de rico, vai trocar uma quantidade grande, ou mesmo vai jogar no Cassino, aí você pode conseguir a cotação master power de 4000 bolívares por dólar.

- Ou seja, seus mesmo 100 dólares que pelo câmbio oficial valem 210.000 bolívares, podem valer 400.000 bolívares. Uma 'pequena diferença'.

- Então, se vier para cá, não tenha medo. Por mais esquisito que pareça, troque seus dólares num taxista. Negocie a taxa antes. E prepare-se para ir embora co 400 mil num bolo de nota que dificilmente caberá no seu bolso.

 

(Puerto La Cruz) - Vamos para as notinhas venezuelanas do dia, com destaque para Argentina, Fred, youtube, camisinha e a moral da história.

- Fui ao treino da seleção hoje. Não sei o motivo exato, mas estava acompanhando o Fred desde o começo. Ele parecia incomodado. Uma bola caiu para o pé esquerdo dele. Na hora de firmar o pé direito como apoio para bater, perdeu totalmente a confiança no chute e errou por cima. No lance seguinte, bola para ele de novo, que chuta de direita, desta vez na confiança de apoiar o esquerdo, e chutou para marcar. Depois disso, já mancava forte. Saiu minutos depois e está fora da Copa América.

- Mas vamos ao que o teino teve de melhor. O adversário era o sub-20 do Deportivo Anzoátegui, time local. A seleção basileira era um mistão. Confesso que só vi o primeiro tempo do coletivo. Depois fui embora. Mas o placar era 7 x 0 sem Helton tocar na bola do outro lado e com Alex Silva saindo driblando desde lá atrás.

- Aí vem o break. Dunga conversa com os seus. E o técnico local (foto - sente o desapontamento) com os dele. Lógico que eu vou prestar a atenção no outro. O cara dando bronca. Gesticulando. Reclamando de tudo. Me coloquei no lugar da molecada. Pô, esse cara é louco? Somos venezuelanos, temos menos de 19 anos, não podemos chegar junto e estamos jogando contra a Seleção Brasileira!! hehe. Mas, como dizem, não tem bobo no futebol. E o treinador achou que tinha motivos suficientes para gralhar.

- É quase como eu enfrentando o Federer no tênis tentando achar um motivo para derrota.

- Tá bom, tá bom... Seleção com Federer agora foi meio demais. Roddick, Hewitt, Cañas talvez.

- Eu não devo entender nada de futebol mesmo. Roque Santa Cruz finalmente, aos 63 anos, despontou para o futebol. Deixou de ser promessa. Marcou três gols, é o grande nome do torneio até aqui e o Paraguai está vivo.

- A melhor coisa do jogo Argentina x EUA só eu e quem está aqui na Venezuela com TV a cabo viu. A chamada do canal SportPlus para o jogo. Geralmente você não foge da cartilha. Coloca um jogador bom de cada lado, uma musiquinha de suspense, escudos dos times e pronto.

- A SportPlus pega duas gatas de biquíni micro e vai vestindo elas (não despindo) com o uniforme oficial de cada seleção. Foi a primeira vez que vi, não sei se tem na rede, mas se alguém achar, compartilhe com os colegas aí nos comentários.

- A segunda melhor coisa do jogo Argentina x EUA foi o pênalti que os americanos marcaram. Mas foi pura ilusão. Ainda que pareceu sofrido até a virada, a Argentina deve ter ficado com a bola 95% do tempo no jogo inteiro. Não existe comparação possível entre as duas equipes. O time mega-hair-star-pop-diva-ultra-long-dong-sensitive de Basile salvou a honra dos favoritos.

- E com Tevez no banco o jogo inteiro praticamente, a Argentina perde muita força na macumba. A torcida do Timão fica meio de bode de torcer pra Argentina sem ele. Por isso que o gol demorou tanto. E quando ele entrou ainda selou a goleada por 4 x 1.

- Vamos parar de falar de coisa triste. Para terminar, duas notas venezuelanas e a moral da história.

- Acesso negado: As vezes entra. As vezes não. Já aconteceu comigo mais de uma vez por aqui de não conseguir acessar um site específico numa rede pública de wifi, geralmente as oficiais. Youtube, por exemplo, já me foi oficialmente negado o acesso (foto com explicação sobre o veto). Outras vezes, confesso que consegui (como na atual rede).

- Acesso fácil: Já camisinhas, são distribuídas por aqui. Na porta dos estádios, por exemplo, você ganha uma customizada da Copa América, com o papagaio (no sentido animal) impresso na embalagem (foto). Atrás está escrito (juro!): Bolivar - Integracion e Progreso. Faz sentido.

- Moral da história: juntando estas duas notinhas acima, uma conclusão: Quer namorar na praia? Fica sussa que mesmo que alguém filme, muita gente não deve ver. Mas use camisinha, ok?

Ronaldinho didn`t play in Germany. Ronaldo was fat and slow. Riquelme couldn`t show his best moments and even quit the National Team after the World Cup.

Roman is already considering playing again for Argentina.

Ronaldo, in an interview to Andre Rizek for Placar Magazine, said all he wants for this semester is to play well at AC Milan so he can come back to Brazilian Team and then play Copa America.

Ronaldinho, who hasn`t been a starter in National Team in the first games of coach Dunga, may have his new chance during the competition. The same to Kaka, who also played a terrible World Cup.

With Messi, Maxi Rodriguez, Tevez and Crespo along with Riquelme and even Veron, who was called back in last Basile`s list (only with local players), Copa America is already a tournament to watch carefully.

Conmebol defined the draws for the 12 National teams that will battle in Venezuela. The first game will be between host Venezuela and Bolivia, June 26. The first game for Group B is Brazil x Mexico and in the last group, Argentina will face USA. Group A will play its games at San Cristobal and Mérida. The venues for the Brazilian group are Puerto Ordaz, Maturín and Puerto La Cruz. And Argentina, USA, Paraguay and Colombia will play at Maracaibo, Barinas and Barquisimeto. Venue number 9, Caracas, will have two games at the semifinal and Third Place game.

The first two teams in each group and the best two of the third-place holders will advance to the second round.

GROUP A
Venezuela
Bolivia
Uruguay
Peru

GROUP B
Brazil
Mexico
Ecuador
Chile

GROUP C
Argentina
United States
Paraguay
Colombia

Matches and Venues:

26/06/2007
Venezuela x Bolivia, San Cristóbal
Uruguay x Peru, Mérida

27/06/2007
Brazil x Mexico, Puerto Ordaz
Ecuador x Chile, Puerto Ordaz

28/06/2007
Argentina x USA, Maracaibo
Paraguay x Colombia, Maracaibo

30/06/2007
Venezuela x Peru, San Cristóbal
Bolivia x Uruguay, San Cristóbal

01/07/2007
Brazil x Chile, Maturín
Mexico x Ecuador, Maturín

02/07/2007
Argentina x Colombia, Maracaibo.
USA x Paraguay, Barinas.

03/07/2007
Venezuela x Uruguay, Mérida
Bolivia x Peru, Mérida

04/07/2007
Brazil x Ecuador, Puerto La Cruz
Mexico x Chile, Puerto La Cruz

05/07/2007
Argentina x Paraguay, Barquisimeto
USA x Colombia, Barquisimeto

Quarter-finals
07/07/2007
(19) Best 3rd x Runner-up Group B, Maracaibo.

(20) Winner Group A x 2nd best 3rd place, San Cristóbal.

08/07/2007
(21) Winner Group B x Runner-up Group C, Maturín.

(22) Winner Group C x Runner-up Group A, Barquisimeto.

Semifinals
10/07/2007
(23) Winners 19 x 20, Caracas.

(24) Winners 21 x 22, Puerto Ordaz.

Third Place
14/07/2007
Loosers 23 x 24, Caracas

Final
15/07/2007
Winners 23 x 24, Maracaibo