Senegal delight in Olympic victory

Reuters: Senegal, who stunned the football world when they upset defending champions France in the opening match of the 2002 World Cup, reached the Olympic soccer tournament for the first time on Monday with a 2-0 win over Oman.

The game, to decide the 16th and final place in the men’s tournament, began with a goal after only two minutes from Senegal’s exciting striker Ibrahima Balde of Osasuna, who headed home unmarked from a free-kick.

It ended with Senegal’s clincher, two minutes from time, from substitute Abdoulaye Sane. In between there was some cavalier, exciting football as Olympic soccer returned to Britain for the first time in more than 40 years in the unlikely setting of the City of Coventry Stadium.

The last Olympic match played in Britain was in March 1971 when the British team beat Bulgaria 1-0 in the first leg of a qualifier for the Munich Olympics in front of just 2,200 fans at Wembley Stadium.Britain lost the second leg 5-0 which proved the country’s last Olympic involvement because of political problems surrounding the home nations until 2005 when London was awarded the Games.