Beijing 2008

With all the controversy surrounding the Beijing Olympics, it'd be easy to ignore the event. However, as a sports fan, I'd like to point out that it is unfair to the players, Chinese or otherwise, to make the Olympics into a political storm. Really, the Olympics is about sport, players representing their respective nations, and all of us sports fans, young or old, enjoying watching our the world's best athletes compete. Maybe we can pause the talk of oil, genocide, and freedom for Tibetans for just one August, and enjoy the purity of an international sporting event.

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Qualifications for Beijing soccer is complete.

Top U-23 men's players (with the exception of an additional three players over the age of 23 allowed) will be competing.

The sixteen qualified nations for the men's event are:

AFC (Qualified as the top of their respective qualifying groups)
Australia
Japan
Korea Republic

CAF (Qualified as the top of their respective qualifying groups)
Cameroon
Cote d'Ivoire
Nigeria

UEFA (Qualified through UEFA U-21 Championship 2007)
Belgium
Italy
Netherlands
Serbia

CONCACAF (Qualified through eight-team CONCACAF qualifying tournament)
Honduras
United States of America

OFC (Qualified through six-team round robin)
New Zealand

CONMEBOL (Qualified through South American U-20 Championship 2007)
Brasil
Argentina

Host country
China PR

The four men's groups are as follows:

Group A
Cote d'Ivoire
Argentina
Austalia
Serbia

Group B
Netherlands
Nigeria
Japan
Argentina

Group C
China PR
New Zealand
Brasil
Belgium

Group D
Korea Republic
Cameroon
Honduras

The tournament will be organized into group stages, a quarter-final knock out round, a semi-final, and a loser and winner's final game to determine places 1-4.

Men's calendar:
Group stage matches: August 7, 10, 13
Quarter-finals: August 16 (1D-2C, 1C-2D, 1B-2A, 1A-2B)
Semi-finals: August 19 (1D/2C - 1B/2A, 1C/2D - 1A/2B)
Loser's final: August 22
Winner's final: August 23

The women's tournament consists of 12 teams, four more than in Athens.

Group E
China PR
Sweden
Argentina
Canada

Group F
Korea DPR
Nigeria
Germany
Brasil

Group G
Norway
United States of America
Japan
New Zealand

In the women's event, the top two teams from each of the three groups will progress. The top two third-placed teams will also progress.

Women's calendar:
Group stages: August 6, 9, 12
Quarter finals: August 15 (1F-2G, 1G-3EF, 1E-3FG, 2E-2F)
Semi finals: August 18 (1F/2G - 1G/3EF, 1E/3FG - 2E/2F)
Loser and winner's finals: August 21