Olympic football:Argentina routs Brazil 3-0

Sporting royalty the likes of Maradona and Kobe Bryant came out to see what was supposed to be the clash of the titans.

What they witnessed was Argentina putting on a perfect display of world-class football and earning a well deserved place in the Olympic football finals, defeating the Brazilians, 3-0.

Brazil seemed to aim to slow the pace of the game down from the start showing little objectivity and zeal whereas Los Hermanos Argentines were relentless and displayed very constructive play right from the starting whistle.

The first half ended goalless with Argentina having most of the possession and coming close on a few occasions.

Early in the second half Aguero found the back of the net latching on to a cross from inside the box. The ball seemed to recherche off his arm but the Uruguayan referee pointed to the middle.

Brazil seemed to briefly awaken as moments after the Argentine woodwork was struck. It was to little avail as Aguero added to his tally 6 mins later.

Down 2-0 nil Dunga made some bad substitutions taking off the enterprising Hernanes for Thiago Neves instead of taking off Anderson who looked horrendously out of place once more. Anderson could neither defend without constant ugly fouls nor could he provide quality coming out of the midfield. Hernanes at least provided the latter.

Another Dunga error was to take off Sobis for the out of form Pato. If he wanted Pato to play he could have done so from the start. Pato did not make any improvements in his time spent benched and once more contributed little.

Another great Aguero run led to a penalty which Juan Roman Riquelme, the only player over 23 for Argentina that night night, dispatched with ease as top class players are expected to.

Brazil then fell apart and inexperience showed as both Lucas and Thiago Neves were sent off for childish fouls, much to the delight of the Argentinians.

Brazil was lucky in the end not to have lost by an even wider margin.

It goes without saying that Messi was both brilliant and relentless throughout the match and once more showed why many consider him to be the current world`s number one.

Argentina move on to tackle the Nigerians in the final, after they easily dispatched Europe`s lone representative in the semis, Belgium.

Belgium will play for the bronze versus a Brazil eager to restore some pride.

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