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.

UPDATE -  Looks like there might be a little Radiation leak caused by the Earthquake.

This quake was reported to be a 7.8 by major news agencies. What would happen if the Olympics were taking place and an earthquake of this magnitude hit?

There’s always possibilities for natural disasters to happen, but with the Summer Olympics only months away and China’s questionable dealings with the Human Rights fall out and protests, you’d think it couldn’t get any worse.

The earthquake in China this week has been a huge disaster and caused massive amounts of people unspeakable pain and suffering. With this in mind, there are reports that Fragment Design and Nike have teamed up and will be releasing a Nike Panda pack that will be auctioned off with proceeds going to the victims of the earthquake. The panda was chosen for the pack because of its symbolism and because one of the main panda regions in China was hit hard by the quake.

This seems like the type of project that people should get behind and support. Hopefully this will raise a lot of money for the victims.

Via HighSnob 

For a team that already boasts the likes of Ryan Babel, Royston Drenthe and Wesley Sneijder in the attack, things just got a little easier in the work load department as Olympic Team Head Coach Foppe de Haan announced that international hitman Roy Makaay has been included in the squad as Holladn’s first over age player.

With Feyenoord’s early Champions League Qualification failure, de Haan and the Eredivisie club agreed on the 33 year old (more…)

This vintage Nike Cortez 1984 has been brought back to 2008 in honor of the Chinese athletes who have competed in past games and will only be sold in Nike retail in China.

The entire grouping of Nike shoes paying respect are the Air Max, Dunk, Court Force Mid and the Blazer Low.

image via BP3

It definitely wasn’t the easiest draw for the United States (I think that’s going to Brazil with a group that includes Belgium, China and New Zealand), but you knew it was going to be difficult no matter what.

Facing Japan in the opening match on August 7th in Tianjin will provide a great opening test for the Americans, who the United States beat in Penalty Kicks in the Quater-Finals in Adelaide during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Next up on August 10th (also in Tianjin) will be a Dutch squad that boasts the likes of Liverpool’s Ryan Babel, PSV’s Ibrahim Affelay, Feyenoord’s Jonathan de Guzman (Canadian transplant) and Real Madrid’s Royston Drenthe just to name a few.

Rounding out Group B play with be a tough, physical match up with Nigeria on August 13th in Beijing at the National Stadium.

Other Groups include;

Argentina, Ivory Coast, Serbia and Australia

Italy, Cameroon, South Korea and Honduras

Brazil, Belgium, China and New Zealand

Peter Nowak will have to have his roster finalized in late July and keep this in mind. Nowak can only name an 18 man roster for the Olympic Games, including his THREE over age players.

And you thought there were surprises for the Olympic Qualification Tournament?  Makes you realize how important the Toulon Tournament could be for some players.
[image and information via USSoccer.com]

Men’s Olympic Group B Schedule

Canada took them the distance, but the US Women walked away with the trophy and possession of 1st place in the 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Juarez, Mexico.

Props to our homey Leslie Osborne for making her PK.

– GAME REPORT –   Via USSoccerPlayers.com

Match-up: USA vs. Canada
Competition: 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship
Venue: Estadio Olimpico Benito Juarez; Juarez, Mexico
Date: April 12, 2008; Kickoff – 7:30 p.m. MT
Attendance: 4,151
Weather: Clear, light breeze – 63 degrees

Scoring Summary:   1   2   1OT  2OT   F   PK
USA                         0   0      0        1      1    6
CAN                        0   0      0        1      1    5

USA – Carli Lloyd (unassisted)          107 minute.
CAN – Melissa Tancredi (n/a)                      116.

Penalty Kicks
USA                          CAN
Lloyd GOAL             Sinclair GOAL
Hucles GOAL           Franko Left Post
Chalupyny Saved       Tancredi GOAL
Rampone GOAL       Rustad GOAL
Wambach GOAL      Lang GOAL
Osborne GOAL        Wilkinson GOAL
O’Reilly GOAL         Timko Saved

Lineups:
USA: 24-Nicole Barnhart; 2-Rachel Buehler, 3-Christie Rampone – Capt., 15-Kate Markgraf, 17-Lori Chalupny; 12-Leslie Osborne, 11-Carli Lloyd, 5-Lindsay Tarpley (9-Heather O’Reilly, 62), 10-Kacey White (16-Angela Hucles, 76); 6-Natasha Kai (20-Abby Wambach, 46), 19-Amy Rodriguez.
Subs not used: 4-Cat Whitehill, 8-Lauren Cheney, 14-Stephanie Cox, 18-Hope Solo.
Not Eligible: 7-Shannon Boxx, 13-Tobin Heath.
Head Coach: Pia Sundhage

CAN: 18-Erin McLeod; 9-Candace Chapman, 10-Martina Franko, 11-Randee Hermus (5-Robyn Gayle, 46), 4-Clare Rustad, 8-Diana Matheson (19-Alexandra Marton, 100), 16-Jonelle Filigno (17-Brittany Timko, 70), 7-Rhian Wilkinson, 12-Christine Sinclair, 14-Melissa Tancredi, 15-Kara Lang.
Subs not used: 1-Karina LeBlanc, 2-Kristina Kiss, 6-Sophie Schmidt, 13-Amy Walsh.
Not Eligible: 3-Melanie Booth, 21-Jodi Ann Robinson.
Head Coach: Even Pellerud

Statistical Summary: USA / CAN
Shots:                                24 / 10
Shots on Goal:                 12 / 5
Saves:                                  4 / 10
Corner Kicks:                    10 / 3
Fouls:                                 14 / 10
Offside:                                 3 / 7

Misconduct Summary:
CAN – Kara Lang (caution) 107th minute.

Officials
Referee: Erika Vargas (CRC)
Asst. Referee: Cynette Jeffrey (GUY)
Asst. Referee: Cindy Mohammed (TRI)
4th Official: Monique Ras (ARU)

Third-place Game
Mexico 1, Costa Rica 0

Championship
USA 1, Canada 1 (USA wins 6-5 in penalty kicks)

image via TheFootie

We are a couple hours until kick off of the US v Canada semi final match. With the winner advancing to Beijing, there is an awful lot on the line for the boys tonight. Obviously the majority of us won’t be in Nashville and able to attend in person, but we can all cheer them on from home. After failing to have advanced for the last Olympics, we need to get back to the games and represent.

The Original Winger will also be represented in tonight’s match. TOW contributor / Olympic Team captain Sacha Kljestan will be representing on the field, while 2000 Olympic Team Captain Dunny will be doing color commentary for Fox Soccer Channel for tonight’s game. What will be my contribution you ask and how will I represent? Sharp one liners and incredible tactical analysis will be taking place live and direct from my couch (unfortunately the only person paying any attention to me will be….me!). Enjoy the game… come on boys!

With a 1-1 draw against Cuba and a 1-nil win over Panama, the US will face Honduras (6 pts) on Saturday and needs at least a draw (1 pt) to mathematically eliminate Cuba from the group.

The biggest question once you get through to the Semi-finals will be, do you want to face Mexico in the Semi-final match (a loss to Mexico in the Semi-finals of Olympic Qualifying knocked the US out of contention for the 2004 Olympics in Athens) knowing that only the final two teams head to China?