Inconvenient guest here to stay

By Brian Homewood

BEIJING (Reuters) - Soccer often seems to be in the wrong company at the Olympics, but like an unwelcome guest it is reluctant to leave the party.

One of the few sports to prevent most of its top players from participating, soccer was for much of the time cut off from the real action in China with most matches played hundreds of kilometers from Beijing.

FIFA, the sport's governing body, has limited the contest to under-23 teams with three over-age players allowed per side to prevent the Olympic tournament rivaling its own World Cup.

Many critics felt this created a hybrid event and that soccer should either leave the Games altogether or scrap the limit.

Despite the controversy, the tournament, which finished with Argentina beating Nigeria 1-0 in the final, pulled in a record 2.14 million spectators for the 58 matches in the men's and women's tournaments -- an average of around 36,000.

It also boasted two of the biggest names in any sport with Argentina bringing Messi and Brazil including Ronaldinho as an over-age player.

Messi's presence was in doubt after a prolonged tug-of-war between Argentina and his club Barcelona.

On the day before Argentina's opening game, Barcelona won an appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against a FIFA rule obliging clubs to release all under-23 players -- including Messi -- for the Games.

But the Spanish club agreed to let him stay in China after making a deal with the Argentine association.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said criticism of Olympic soccer came mainly from Europe and pointed out that, apart from Barcelona in 1992 and Athens in 2004, the tournament had been played to packed houses since the under-23 format was introduced.

"In Europe, they are pampered with football," he said, adding that he would propose the same format being used in London in 2012.

"Ask the organizers in Atlanta, or in Sydney or in Beijing if they don't like having football."

Blatter said he hoped that Britain would work out a way of fielding a team in the London Games.

The football associations of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have said they will not take part, fearing that doing so could set a precedent which might result in Britain fielding a united side in the European championships and World Cup.

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