2008 Beijing Olympics Soccer Betting – Argentina Favourites to Retain Gold Medal
Olympics Football betting markets are now available at all good online sportsbooks, with the tournament kicking off August 7th, one day before the official opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic games.
Popular handicap bookmaker PinnacleSports.com has Argentina, the defending Gold Medallists, favourites priced at 2.880*.
The Argentines grabbed gold in 2004 by beating Paraguay in the final in Athens. Carlos Tevez was the tournament’s top-scorer, but won’t be appearing this time around. However, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Liverpool’s Javier Mascherano, are just two big names from another hugely talented squad.
Though soccer wasn’t included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, a men’s team event has featured at every Olympiad since, excepting in 1932. A women’s event was added for the Atlanta games in 1996, and has become cemented as part of the Olympic schedule ever since.
The original Olympic ethos was that participants should be amateurs, helping to ensure fairness. The International Olympic Committee struggled to maintain this principal up to the 1970’s in the face of ‘full time amateurs’ from Eastern Bloc nations, but as sport became increasingly monetised, it was inevitable that the Olympics would have to change. Today the only Olympic event with solely amateur participants, is Boxing, but there are specific regulations associated with the Men’s soccer event that it is important for punters to be aware of.
Olympics Men Soccer – The U23 World Cup
Professional soccer players have been admitted to represent their countries at the Olympics since 1984 Los Angeles Games, but the IOC didn’t want to steal the World Cup’s thunder, so provided some stipulations which has the event evolve into an ‘Under-23 World Cup. Teams are however allowed to field three players over 23, which for the Beijing Games should guarantee some household names. Bettors will not however see any British players take the field, as Great Britain doesn’t provide a representative team, instead each of its four constituents – England, Wales, Scotland and N.Ireland – compete individually within FIFA events.
Given the nature of the regulations for Olympic soccer, the historical results don’t mirror that for the World Cup. Brazil for example have never won gold, but the inclusion in the Brazilian squad for Beijing 2008 of Ronaldinho by coach, Dunga, underlines the desire to capture a soccer Gold medal. The participation of the over stars isn’t guaranteed as clubs are only legally obliged to released u23 players, but Brazil will have three Premier League stars including Jo (recently signed for to Man City for a club record), Anderson (Man Utd) and Lucas Leiva (Liverpool).
Despite the presence of such big names, PinnacleSports.com price Brazil as 3.420* second favourites in their Men’s Olympic soccer betting behind their South American rivals, Argentina.
*All Odds Subject to Change
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Add comment August 3rd, 2008