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Thursday, August 2, 2012

Olympics: Spain exit without a goal, while GB, Brazil, Japan, Korea advance

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LA FURIA "KOSONG"
Pre-tournament favourites Spain embarrassingly bowed out of the men's Olympic football competition without a goal to their name.

The goalless draw with Morocco, in front of a crowd of 35,973 at Manchester United's Old Trafford, also ended the faint hopes of the north Africans, leaving Japan and Honduras as the surprise qualifiers from Group D.

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Great Britain's men followed the women into the Olympic quarter-finals as Daniel Sturridge netted the only goal against Uruguay at the Millennium Stadium.

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Earlier, Internacional striker Leandro Damiao inspired 10-man Brazil to comfortable 3-0 victory over New Zealand to send them into the quarter-finals.

The 23-year-old set up midfielder Danilo to open the scoring and then claimed his second of the tournament before the break, with Tottenham's Sandro adding a third in the second half to cement the win which will see his side return to St James' Park on Saturday evening.

Brazil went ahead with 23 minutes gone when Danilo played a one-two with Damiao before surging into the box and lifting the ball over keeper Michael O'Keeffe.

The South Americans were simply irresistible, and they extended their lead within six minutes when Alex Sandro ran on to an audacious back-heel by left-back Marcelo and squared for Damiao to tap home.

Sandro put the result beyond doubt within seven minutes of the restart when, after substitute Tim Myers had been penalised for a foul on Damiao, Marcelo curled the resulting free-kick to the far post for the Spurs midfielder to fire home.

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Meanwhile, Oribe Peralta's second-half strike saw Mexico top Group B with victory over Switzerland at the Millennium Stadium.

The Swiss needed a win to have any hope of reaching the Olympic quarter-finals, and they enjoyed the better of the opening half with Innocent Emeghara and Admir Mehmedi missing presentable chances.

But the failure to take their chances was punished by an improved Mexico after the break, with Peralta's low finish setting up a last-eight meeting with Senegal at Wembley.

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And South Korea set up a quarter-final meeting with Great Britain despite being held to a disappointing draw against Gabon at Wembley.

Arsenal's Park Chu-young and Sunderland striker Ji Dong-won were both guilty of missing easy chances and the quality of the Asian side's finishing - and their play in general - was very poor.

Gabon came the closest to clinching victory in the second half when Levy Madinda hit a post, but the draw was enough to see Korea through to the last eight after Mexico beat Switzerland at St James' Park.

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Japan and Honduras both qualified for the Olympic quarter-finals in the men's football tournament after fighting out a goalless draw at the City of Coventry Stadium.

Japan finished top of the group with seven points from three games and they will take on Egypt in the last eight.

Runners-up Honduras will face a more daunting test against one of the tournament favourites in Brazil.

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Senegal joined Great Britain's men in the quarter-finals of the Olympic football tournament after leading marksman Moussa Konate rescued a point against UAE at the City of Coventry Stadium.

Konate scored his fourth goal in three Group A matches early in the second half to cancel out Matar Ismaeil's opener.

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