Argentina and Brazil Do Battle, But Fans' Attention Drifts Elsewhere

If Richard Scudamore's rich-shall-get-richer dream for the 39th game were ever to come to fruition this, surely, would be the template. The two great football nations of the last 40 years pitched against each other in an Olympic semi-final in the capital city of the country which they would most like to conquer.

In Mao's time football truly was the working man's ballet, if by using the term ballet you want to suggest it is the performance rather than the result which matters. Then the audience would watch not caring who wins.

But now sporting results are of paramount importance as was evident in the wave of criticism that engulfed hurdler Liu Xiang when he had to withdraw, clearly injured. The consensus seemingly being that it is better to, if not die, seriously injure yourself in battle than beat the retreat. Now the Chinese are as obsessed by the medal count as the Americans and, now they are winning, the British.

This meant that as the ball was kicked off, a large majority of the 53,000 were supporting China. This, while rather touching, is, at the same time, utterly ridiculous. When Manchester City play United in Beijing and everyone supports China first and both sides second is that a marketing masterstroke or a step too far?

Things settled down when pictures of a relaxed looking Diego Maradona filled the big screens. The celebrity hint had been given and the chants of China morphed into support for Argentina. Whether it was his status as a footballer or as a friend of Fidel Castro and the left which had proved so persuasive, we will never know but I doubt images of Pele would have been so influential.

In between the chants there were the Mexican waves, the readiness with which Chinese crowds have adopted this throwback providing yet another example that they are more anxious to ape rather than set themselves apart from the West.

The main difference between the cultures in sport-watching terms remains the role of food. Whereas in America watching sport can resemble visiting an all-you-can-eat restaurant, the Chinese prefer to keep the two activities separate. Food is too important to be hastily consumed while your attention is on something else. There is no street food which, unless food producers Westlers have more muscle than one imagines on the IOC, may set a precedent for London.

During an engaging if not enthralling first half, the matador Lionel Messi received most of the olés, quite rightly for he was the chief strutter of stuff.

In the second half the game and the crowd came to life, the Maradona steer from the TV producer proving to be a prescient one as China/Argentina scored twice in half-a-dozen minutes.

The game, which had been undulating, became a roller-coaster. A semi-slimline Ronaldinho hit the post. The ball went in but it was offside. Ronaldinho forced a save. The crowd oohed and aahed.

A fortuitous penalty was awarded to the Argentinians, maybe the ref was a new homer.Three-nil and the semi final was over. Beijing had become Buenos Aires. Well, not really, although there had been couples tangoing outside, which is the kind of innovation Scudamore should consider introducing into the Premier League.