Sunday, August 24, 2008

Beijing 2008 – Time to Say Goodbye

After their courageous performance against team USA, our tall guys must have every reason to be highly motivated to ensure they won't go home empty handed. To me this was the main factor in their bronze medal win over Lithuania by 87-75.

There is saying when one is out, others must step in. Not having Manu GINOBILI available because of his injury by any means is a huge blow. But there was Carlos DELFINO and the likes of Leonardo GUTIERREZ and Paolo QUINTEROS coming from the bench to fill in.

DELFINO was simply excellent with 20 points, 10 rebounds & 3 assists. Luis SCOLA had 16 points & 3 rebounds. Andres NOCIONI posted 14 points while both GUTIERREZ and QUINTEROS had 11 points respectively.
"To have won gold and bronze at the Olympic with the same team means a lot for a nation that has not a strong basketball tradition. We are not disappointed by this bronze medal but proud of what we have achieved." Coach Sergio HERNANDEZ said.

Well done to them. Most certainly congratulations to all the other medal winners as well. This means Argentina will equal the medal tally as of what they did in 2004 with 2 gold and 4 bronze medals.

And now, its time to turn our attention to the upcoming (in some case already underway) European season.

Defending La Liga champion Real Madrid made a dramatic comeback to beat Valencia 4-2 at home to claim Spanish Super Cup (6-5 on aggregate). Gonzalo HIGUAIN was among the scorer for them.

In France, Bordeaux kept their pressure on Lyon and Marseille after their 2-0 win over Nantes. Fernando CAVENAGHI gave them the lead from the penalty spot in the 6th minute.While in Portugal, FC Porto kicks off their title defense with 2-0 win over Belenenses. Mariano GONZALEZ scored the opening for them in the 14th minute.

4 comments:

Azrael said...

Congrats to Argentina! I was hoping they would upset the US and get the gold, but was very happy they were at least able to get bronze. Scola was a scoring machine throughout. Tough as nails, Noc played through pain as usual. Maybe things would be different with Manu at 100%, but I guess injuries are part of the game.

Halley Anne said...

i was relieved when they got the bronze. they're not going home empty-handed and i think that's something argentina should be proud of. though manu had experienced a problem with his ankle, the team still managed to be great on both ends and won against lithuania, who defeated them during the first round of the 2008 beijing olympics men's basketball. sooo glad they won!

Josh said...

Argentina played good, but not good enough. I told you all at the start of the Olympics: We're unstoppable. You guys just hung in there.

Anonymous said...

Well I am in Olympic withdrawl, no more sports for me till 2am or waking up very early for games. It was an overall GREAT GREAT Olympics the best by far.

Jack!