(Sports Network) - Lautaro Acosta's goal in the 86th minute allowed Argentina to claim a 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast in the men's soccer competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics on Thursday. Lionel Messi scored the opening goal in the 43rd minute and set up the winner four minutes from time after Sekou Cisse leveled the match for the Ivory Coast eight minutes after halftime.

Juan Riquelme set up Messi's first goal with a nice pass that split the defense and allowed Messi to cooly finish off the play two minutes before the break.

It didn't take long for the Ivory Coast to answer as Mamadou Bagayoko's cross found the head of Cisse for an easy finish to put the team's on level terms in the 53rd minute.

Argentina was being pushed hard in the match, but the Group A favorites found a late winner from a quickly-taken free kick. The ball was played into space down the wing, allowing Messi to dash into the box and fire a shot on goal. The initial effort was stopped, but Acosta was on hand to knock home the rebound.

Australia is up next for Argentina after the Aussies had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Serbia. The game was scoreless until the 69th minute when Ruben Zadkovich put Australia ahead, but Slobodan Rajkovic answered in the 78th minute to earn his team a point.

The United States leads Group B after the first round of matches thanks to a 47th-minute goal from Stuart Holden that handed the Americans a 1-0 win over Japan. The other match between group-favorites the Netherlands and Nigeria ended without a goal despite the presence of high-powered attacks from both sides.

The U.S. will get a much stiffer test on Sunday when they meet the Dutch, while Japan tries for its first points against Nigeria.

Italy had no trouble in its Group D opener against Honduras as the Italians cruised to a 3-0 win, leaving them on top of the group after Cameroon and Korea played to a 1-1 draw.

Sebastian Giovinco scored four minutes before halftime for Italy, while Giuseppe Rossi and Robert Acquafresca both converted spot kicks to give the Italians a comfortable win.

Korea thought they had three points wrapped up when Aurelien Chedjou's free kick eluded Cameroon goalkeeper Amour Tignyemb in the 68th minute, but Georges Mandjeck came off the bench and rescued a point for the African side as he found the back of the net with nine minutes to play.

Italy will attempt to capture three more points against Korea on Sunday, with Honduras hoping to rebound with a win against Cameroon.

Brazil is considered one of the gold medal favorites, but they got all they could handle from a tough Belgium side in Group C as the South Americans slipped past Belgium 1-0. Hernanes provided the lone tally in the 79th minute for Brazil, which will look to secure a spot in the knockout round with a win against New Zealand, who had to settle for a 1-1 draw against China when Dong Fangzhuo leveled the match in the 88th minute for the hosts.

















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