Olympic roundup for Sunday - Men's Football Day 2 Review

No major suprises came from the second round of Olympic Men's Football tournament. As the eight games concluded, three medal favorites Italy, Brazil, and Argentina moved into the quarterfinals following their second emphatic wins. And underdog Japan was knocked out. The other four berths will not be finalized until the next rounds.

Brazil, Italy and Argentina advanced to the quarterfinals in the men's football tournament at the Olympics with victories Sunday.

Two-time FIFA Player of the Year Ronaldinho scored twice for Brazil to beat New Zealand 5-0 in Shenyang, his first goals for his country since last October in World Cup qualifying.
He found the net in the 54th minute from a free kick and added another with a penalty kick in the 61st, helping Brazil secure one of the top two spots in Group C and stay on track for its first football gold medal. Anderson, Alexandre Pato and substitute striker Rafael Sobis also scored.
"It's a special day," Ronaldinho said. "This victory comes as a reward to everything I have been doing and everything I have already done. It's for all the people who believed in me and helped me on my return."

Giuseppe Rossi collected his second goal in as many games to guide Italy to a 3-0 win over South Korea in Qinhuangdao. He pounced on the deflection of a shot from teammate Tommaso Rocchi and hit a 10-meter shot with his left foot past goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong.

Rocchi, the Italian team's only player over the age of 23, scored after combining with Marco Motta, and Riccardo Montolivo picked up an injury-time goal as Italy advanced to the final eight from Group D.

South Korea coach Park Sung-wha came away impressed by the entire Italian team.
"Italy is a very powerful, strong team," he said.

Argentina needed a 78th-minute goal from Ezequiel Lavezzi to beat a stubborn Australian team 1-0 in Shanghai and advance from Group A.

Another full house of 56,000 at the Shanghai Olympic Stadium again gave FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi a big reception but he had, for him, an off day. As well as shooting high and wide, his famous control sometimes let him down.



"We have three goals from two games, that might not sound enough but you can score 10 goals but still not qualify for the next round," Argentina coach Sergio Batista said. "So I'm happy with three goals and qualifying for the next round."

"I am very confident in my team. We knew our goal and we are marching towards our goal. We still need a few improvements to keep mistakes to a minimum."
In other results, it was: Ivory Coast 4, Serbia 2; United States 2, Netherlands 2; Belgium 2, China 0; Cameroon 1, Honduras 0; and Nigeria 2, Japan 1.

The U.S. team conceded a goal in the third minute of injury time to draw 2-2 with the Netherlands in Tianjin and squander a chance to immediately advance to the quarterfinals.
The Netherlands' Gerald Sibon scored from a low freekick from 25 meters that eluded U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan to send the Dutch to its final game against winless Japan with renewed hopes of reaching the quarterfinals.

Gervinho scored one goal and set up two more for the Ivory Coast to thrash Serbia in Shanghai. Sekou Cisse, Salomon Kalou and an own-goal by Slobodan Rajkovic completed the scoring for the Ivorians. Milan Mrdakovic and Djordje Rakic scored for Serbia.