Soccer gets the Games underway

SYDNEY - Australia's Games have begun, but without the triumphant start to cheer an expectant host nation clamouring for a record haul of Olympic medals.

The Olympics opened last night with preliminary matches of the soccer tournament in Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne.

But Australia's Matildas - best known for stripping for a team calendar - were hammered 3-0 by Germany in a bruising opening women's soccer match in the capital.

And to round off a bad night for the hosts, the Australian men went down to a late goal by Italy.

Tight security greeted fans at all matches as Olympic competition returned to Australia for the first time in 44 years.

At the MCG, 90,000 watched the Olyroos take on Italy.

In Canberra, the troublesome Bruce Stadium turf, which almost cost the city its Olympic matches, appeared to stand up well, despite having been laid just four days earlier.

Although it was not the result they would have hoped for, the capacity 23,000 crowd enjoyed the occasion and strongly supported the home team.

The opening ceremony in Canberra featured a spectacular fireworks display before the start of the second fixture - a men's match between the United States and the Czech Republic.

In Melbourne, Brazil showed they would be a medal contender in the women's as well as the men's soccer tournament with an emphatic 2-0 win over Sweden at the MCG.

Pretinha got the opening goal in the 21st minute, and Katia made sure of the win 20 minutes from the end.

A classic sucker punch earned Italy their 1-0 victory in a men's Group A clash.

An 81st-minute counter-attack goal from Andrea Pirlo after a mistake by Australian defender Hayden Foxe stunned a packed house of 93,252 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Meanwhile, in Adelaide, reigning Olympic champions Nigeria had to fight hard to avoid an early embarrassment.

They were two goals down against lowly Honduras but scraped their way back to grab a last-gasp 3-3 draw in their opening Group A match.

The Cameroon kicked off Group C with a 3-2 win over Kuwait, while the United States and the Czech Republic played out a 2-2 draw in Group C in Canberra.

The US went ahead in the 21st minute through Chris Albright.

However the Czech Republic equalised eight minutes later through Marek Jankulovski.

The Americans grabbed the lead a second time just before halftime through Josh Wolff, but a Lukas Dosek penalty soon levelled the scores again.

- AGENCIES