Argentina defeats Paraguay

Carlos Tevez scored his eighth goal of the Olympic soccer tournament and Argentina captured its first gold medal since 1952 by beating Paraguay 1-0 Saturday in an all-South American final.

Tevez, a 20-year-old Boca Juniors striker who is likely transfer target for Europe's top clubs, beat two Paraguayan defenders to a cross from Mauro Rosales to score in the 18th minute before 41,116 fans at the Olympic Stadium.

The win made up for second-place finishes in 1928 and 1996.

Now Argentina has a title its big South American rival Brazil has never won. The Brazilians, who won five World Cups and beat Argentina in the Copa America last month, failed to qualify for the Olympics after being eliminated by Paraguay.

Already an underdog, Paraguay was reduced to nine men after Emilio Martinez was sent off for elbowing Andres D'Alessandro in the face in the 67th minute and Diego Figueredo was shown a second yellow six minutes from the end.

But the runner-up medal was still Paraguay's first at the Olympics at any sport. Italy won the bronze Friday night by beating surprising Iraq 1-0 in Thessaloniki.

Argentina's victory was a huge relief for coach Marcelo Bielsa, who had been told to come home with nothing but the gold medal.

For Valencia defender Roberto Ayala, it also made up for the disappointment of the silver medal he collected when Argentina lost 3-2 to Nigeria eight years ago.

If Paraguay didn't already have a tough enough job to stop the hot favorite, striker Jose Cardozo -- who had scored five goals including two in the semifinal beating of Iraq -- was ruled out because of an injury he suffered in the game in Thessaloniki.

It didn't take long for Argentina to go ahead and it was no surprise who scored it.

A break from defense by AC Milan's Fabricio Coloccini started the move when he ran 30 meters from his own area and released Mauro Rosales down the right. He crossed to the near post and Tevez ran between defenders Julio Manzur and Carlos Gamarra to prod the ball home from six meters.

The Paraguayan defenders seemed terrified whenever Tevez was running at them, and both Gamarra and Manzur were shown yellow cards for hauling him down as if in punishment for his goal.

Just before halftime, Tevez nearly struck again when he cut in from the left and aimed a low shot toward the far corner, but the 'keeper fisted it away at full stretch.

Inter Milan's Kily Gonzalez put Argentina in trouble when he conceded a free kick not far outside its area two minutes into the second half and was shown the yellow for tripping Fredy Bareiro.

Aureliano Torres curled the free kick round the wall but 'keeper German Lux dived full length to his right to clutch the ball by the post.

Paraguay was reduced to 10 men when Martinez was sent off by Greek referee Kyros Vassaras for felling D'Alessandro.

Figueredo was the second Paraguayan to be sent off when he was shown his second yellow card for trying to use his hand to turn home a free kick by Ernesto Cristaldo.