Beijing 2008 Olympics: Former Latics men eye quarter-finals

IT’S win or bust for former Athletic players Neil Kilkenny and Chris Killen in the Olympic Games football tournament tonight.

Kilkenny’s Australia and New Zealand, who Killen represents, must record victories to progress.

Australia have a winner-takes all final match in group ‘A’ in Tianjin against Ivory Coast as both teams look to book their place in the quarter-finals.

Olympic champions Argentina have won both their games, though they only scraped past Australia 1-0 through a late goal, to qualify for the last eight.

It’s a big ask if Killen’s New Zealand are to progress. They need to beat Belgium in Shanghai and then rely on Brazil, who are already in them quarter-finals, beating China.

LOCAL swimmer James Goddard will go for only one Olympic Games gold tonight in Beijing.

Goddard had faced swimming the heats of both the 200m backstroke and 200m individual medley in the same session at the National Aquatics Centre.

He also had the possibility of having to swim in both semi finals tomorrow morning and two finals on Friday morning, six races in little over 40 hours.

And it was the prospect of that punishing schedule which has prompted Goddard to pull out of the 200m backstroke, an event in which he finished fourth in the Athens Olympics four years ago.