The efforts of the Chinese association were at last rewarded when they won the silver medal. Shi Guihong (no. 15) made her contribution with two goals in the group games. |
The showdown meeting on 1.8.1996 between the two best teams in the tournament ended with a narrow but deserved victory for the American girls. Tisha Venturini (no. 15) and Liu Ailing (no. 10) anticipating the ball. |
Composure and experience; two qualities that enabled Brazilian goalkeeper Meg to stand out. |
The semifinal between Norway and the USA - the picture shows Nymark Anderson (no. 4) and Tiffeny Milbrett (no. 16) fighting for the ball - was among the highlights of the tournament. |
The lady goalkeepers earned a positive rating. But one limitation was controlling the penalty area. Here America's Briana Scurry attempts to deal with a dangerous situation against Norway, assisted by Carla Overbeck. |
Only three goals conceded in five matches; a proud achievement for the American goalkeeper Briana Scurry, who naturally had help in this matter from the excellent US defence. |
The following section is an interpretation and analysis of the individual positions.
The only yellow/red card of the women's Olympic tournament went to Agnete Carlsen of Norway for this foul on Mia Hamm (USA) in the semifinal. |
A healthy fighting spirit was the foundation of the Brazilian's success. Suzy (no. 3) typified the teams's attitude with an uncompromising effort against the Norwegian striker Linda Medalen (no. 10). |
While there is still room for improvement, the women have made great progress in heading, in comparison to previous years. |
An exciting battle in the air between Asa Jakobsson (SWE, no. 3) and Michelle Akers (USA). |
The Nigerians were also clearly number one in celebrating. By means of acrobatics (Celestine Babayaro)... |
... or gesticulation (goalkeeper Jospeh Dosu) they let their feelings out in no uncertain matter. |
For the first time at an Olympic tournament "alternate" players allowed - substitutes who could be nominated to replace ill or injured team mates in the squad. Portugal's Nuno Afonso (no. 20, here battling against Brazil's Aldair) replaced the injured Litos for the last two games. |
Two stars with different jobs and different levels of success: Brazilian striker Ronaldhino (no. 18 above) whose 5 goals put him second on the tournament goalscoring list, and keeper Gianluca Pagliuca (ITA, no. 1) whose team went out after the group games. |
Mexico's Jorge Campos was one of the first goalkeepers to show talent out on the field. He is happy either stopping goals at one end or scoring them himself at the other. |
Jospeh Dosu (Nigeria) demonstrates that goalkeepers can play out on the field as well to Argentina's Claudio Lopez (no. 7). |
Bebeto (BRA, no. 7, here with Nigeria's Obaraku) lived up to expectations by scoring six goals and topping the scorer's list. He was a superb captain for his young team and an example for them in every respect. |
Argentina went for experience in defence. José Chamot, who is under contract at Lazio Rome (Italy) was one of the two over-23 players in the South American's defence, the other being Sensini. |
Five out of the total of 37 over-23 players were goalkeepers. Among them was America's Kasey Keller, shown here in a superb action scene against Argentina. He first came to prominence on the international scene in 1989, when he was voted third best player at the World Youth Cup in Saudi Arabia. |
Nigeria's captain, triple goalscorer and a major figure in the tournament, Nwankwo Kanu. Sadly his career took an unexpected turn after they had won the gold medal. |
Another Argentine player who has found his way to Italy: Hernan Crespo, joint top scorer along with Bebeto, transferred after the tournament to AC Parma. |
The outstanding personalities here were :
Defensive: Almeyda (Argentina), Flavio Conceição (Brazil), Lara (Mexico), Oliseh (Nigeria) and Santiago (Spain).
Offensive: Ortega (Argentina), Vidmar (Australia), Juninho (Brazil), Legwinsky (France), Akunnor (Ghana) and Maezono (japan).
The Brazilian Juninho provided four passes that led directly to goals ("assists"). He was thus one of the most valuable players in the ranks of the bronze-medal winners. |
1) | FIFA U-17 World Championships | |||
1985: | 1 | 1987: | 1 | |
1989: | 8 | 1991: | 8 | |
1993: | 13 | 1995: | 1 | |
2) | World Youth Championships for the FIFA/Coca-Cola Cup |
|||
1983: | 1 | 1987: | 1 | |
1989: | 2 | 1991: | 10 | |
1993: | 31 | 1995: | 14 | |
3) | Olympic football tournaments | |||
1988: | 3 | 1992: | 4 | |
4) | FIFA World Cup | |||
1990: | 2 | 1994: | 18 |
The next block of statistics shows the overall success of the different confederations. The number of points won per continent is divided by the number of matches played, giving the average number of points per game:
Number of matches | Points | Average no. points per match | |
---|---|---|---|
Conmebol (2 teams) | 12 | 23 | 1,92 |
CAF (3 teams) | 13 | 19 | 1,46 |
Concacaf (2 teams) | 7 | 9 | 1,28 |
Europa (5 teams) | 20 | 25 | 1,25 |
Asia (3 teams) | 9 | 10 | 1,1 |
Oceanía (1 teams) | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Nigeria's fans created a great atmosphere in every stadium. Their delight immediately affected all other spectators. |