Former Olympic men’s football gold mediallists Cameroon have been joined by Nigeria and the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire to advance to the quarter-final of the men’s football event of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Wednesday.
Cameroon played goalless with Italy Wednesday to advance from group D, after finishing second with 5 points behind group leader Italy, with 7.
Cote d’Ivoire beat Australia 1-0, by virtue of an 81st minute goal by Salomon Kalou, finishing with six points to qualify in group A of the preliminaries.
Nigeria, on the other hand, progressed after beating a 10-man US team 2-1 in a thriller at the Beijing Workers’ Stadium to finish on top of group B with 7 points. The Netherlands finished second in the group, with 5 points, and advanced alongside Nigeria, after beating Japan 1-0 also Wednesday.
All the three African teams in the event have now progressed to the next stage. Africa’s sole team in the women’s football event, Super Falcons of Nigeria, was not so lucky as it crashed out in the first round.
Africa’s third representatives in the event, Cote d’Ivoire, will play Australia later Wednesday to determine whether or not it will also advance.
