The Olympic Games have shown that sports and national pride are still tightly intertwined, and perhaps nowhere more so than in the minds of Chinese leaders. Now, the government is taking a step to shore up the reputation of that most dubious of national sports icons: the men’s soccer team….After the Chinese team lost its final match on Aug. 13 to Brazil 3-0, the Propaganda Department apparently got fed up with all the jokes about the men’s team.

One major newspaper received an order to stop criticizing the men’s team, a reporter for the newspaper said. Another Chinese journalist confirmed on Wednesday night that a general order along those lines had been issued by the government.

The journalists spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal.

Image via Daylife

Argentina 1 - Australia 0  -  Lavezzi

Nigeria 2 - Japan 1  -  Obinna, Anichebe -  Toyoda

New Zealand 0 - Brazil 5  -  Anderson, Ronaldinho 2, Pato, Rafeal Sobis

Cameroon 1 - Honduras 0  - Mbia

Italy 3 - South Korea 0  - Montilivo, Rocchi, Rossi

Belgium 2 - China 0  - Mirallas, Dembele

Serbia 2 - Ivory Coast 4  - Mrdakovic, Rakic - Kalou, Gervinho, Moura-Komenan

Lopez Lomong’s incredible journey from a 6 year old kidnapped Lost Boy to his day carrying the American Flag at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremonies.

“I’m here to compete for my country,” Lomong told reporters when they asked questions about human rights. “The Olympics are supposed to bring people together to peacefully blend and I’m looking forward to that and stepping on the track and wearing my colors and representing my country.”

The 23 year old Lomong will compete in the 1500 meter.

Pretty amazing opening to the 2008 Olympics and are you serious with the way he lit the torch?

I’m glad they didn’t use Yao to light the torch because I couldn’t see him being held up that long..

UPDATE - First days results are on the books.

Norway 2, United States 0

Japan 2, New Zealand 2

Brazil 0, Germany 0

Canada 2, Argentina 1

North Korea 1, Nigeria 0

China 2, Sweden 1

via WNT Blog

Aug. 6 vs. Norway
Venue: Qinhuangdao

Broadcast Start Time
MSNBC (7:30 a.m. ET)
Universal HD (7:30 a.m. ET) - Replay at 8 p.m. ET and 10:30 p.m. ET
NBC Olympic Soccer Channel (7:30 a.m. ET)

Referee: Nicole Petignat (SUI)
Asst. Referee: Cristini Cini (ITA)
Asst. Referee: Karine Vives Solana (FRA)

No Wambach, Osborne or Whitehill and the same ref that ejected Shannon Boxx in the 2007 World Cup Semi-Final when the US were down 2-nil to Brazil in Extra Time and Christiane ran into Boxx’s legs.

Video of the Red Card after the jump….

(more…)

U.S. Men’s Olympic Soccer Team TV Schedule:

Aug. 7 vs. Japan Venue: Tianjin
MSNBC 4:55 a.m. ET
Universal HD 4:55 a.m. ET
NBC Olympic Soccer Channel 5 a.m. ET

Aug. 10 vs. Netherlands Venue: Tianjin
USA Network 7:30 a.m. ET
NBC Olympic Soccer Channel 7:30 a.m. ET

Aug. 13 vs. Nigeria Venue: Beijing (Workers’)
USA Network 5 a.m. ET
NBC Olympic Soccer Channel 5 a.m. ET

Predicted Lineup after the Jump…

(more…)

Interesting article from the Washington Post.

BEIJING — My country is about to host the world’s greatest sporting event and, we hope, claim a truckload of Olympic gold. But to hundreds of millions of Chinese, our widely anticipated bonanza of medals will mean very little. The real metric by which China judges itself against the rest of the world isn’t the discus or the decathlon. It’s not even our record-beating economic growth rate or our postmodern skylines.   It’s soccer. And when it comes to our beloved sport, China is not just the sick man of Asia. It’s the sick man of the world…(more)…

Image via Daylife

With all the Olympic rosters dropping, why not?

Yes and Yes.

images via KicksOnFire

Olympic host China has made the non-surprising/surprising move of firing Serbian born head coach Ratomir Dujkovic and replacing him with former Super League’s Qingdao Zhongneng coach Yin Tiesheng.

The sacking came just three days after Dujkovic named his final squad for the Olympic Games.

China squad: Qiu Shengjiong, Li Weifeng, Shen Longyuan, Gao Lin, Zhang Lu, Feng Xiaoting, Zhu Ting, Wan Houliang, Tan Wangsong, Lu Jianjun, Zheng Zhi, Zhou Haibin, Yuan Weiwei, Cui Peng, Han Peng, Jiang Ning, Chen Tao, Dong Fangzhuo

China will be led by Manchester United’s Dong Fangzhuo and Charlton’s Zheng Zhi.

image via Cache

Nike is prepping for the Olympics in Beijing on a whole nother level. With China being the biggest emerging market, Nike is attempting to cement themselves in China as the leader. Videos such as these where they project some of China’s best athletes onto the the side of the new government CCTV building are definitely a step in the right direction in terms of getting in the hearts and minds of locals. They also picked an amazingly look cool looking building which was designed by Dutch superstar architect Ron Koolhaas.