Ronaldinho-Lionel Messi soccer matchup at Olympics still possible

The men's soccer tournament at the Beijing Olympics still has a chance of seeing two of the sport's finest players -- Brazil's Ronaldinho and Argentina's Lionel Messi -- squaring off for the gold medal.

Even though a court ruling today stunned FIFA by decreeing that Barcelona had every right to recall Messi from China, Argentina's coach said his talismanic striker would take the field in China on Thursday against the Ivory Coast in Shanghai.

"The player is here and will remain with the [Olympic] team," Sergio Batista said. "He will start Thursday's game . . . and I am sure he can be with us for the rest of the competition."

Messi, 21, traveled to China with the Argentina team against the wishes of his club team, Barcelona, after FIFA, world soccer's governing body, stated unequivocally that clubs were obliged to release age-eligible players to take part in the Games.

"The release of players below the age of 23 has always been mandatory for all clubs," FIFA said at the time. "The same principle applies for Beijing 2008."

But Spain's Barcelona, along with the German clubs Schalke '04 and Werder Bremen, immediately appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), saying their players were needed for the start of the European season this month.

Today, in a ruling that shook Joseph "Sepp" Blatter, FIFA's president, CAS ruled that soccer clubs are under no obligation to release players for the Olympic Games and that the three players in question -- Messi and the Brazilian pair of Rafinha and Diego -- could be recalled from China.

Bowing to FIFA, however, Schalke '04 and Werder Bremen said they would allow Rafinha, 22, and Diego, 23, to play in the Games as long as an agreement was reached with the Brazilian soccer federation so that the players were adequately insured against injury at the Olympics.

Barcelona, which was due to play the New York Red Bulls in an exhibition at Giants Stadium tonight, indicated that club officials would meet to decide whether to allow Messi to remain with the Argentine team.

Barcelona has an important European Champions League qualifying series starting next week and had insisted that Messi be available for that.

In its ruling, CAS, represented by a three-man panel, said there was "no specific decision of the FIFA executive committee establishing the obligation for the clubs to release players under 23 for this tournament."