In a tournament that was difficult for all the South American teams due to the quality of the players and the fact that only two teams qualified, Brazil couldn't live up to their history and were eliminated from the next Summer Olympic GamesGames after losing to their traditional rivals. 

Argentina proved too much for a Brazilian side that was a long way from its former glory and failed to show why it is the reigning U-23 world champion (plus three senior reinforcements for the Olympics). 

A draw would have been enough for Brazil to reach Paris. In the decisive game, they had a couple of clear chances to book their ticket to France, but they were denied by a superb performance from Argentine goalkeeper Leandro Brey. Luciano Gondou's 77th-minute header denied rising stars Biro and Endrik (recently bought by Real Madrid) of their Olympic dreams.

That goal effectively ended Brazil's chances of making it to Paris, as the U-23 pre-Olympic tournament in Venezuela had shown. A far cry from their former glory, Brazil was eliminated after losing to Argentina in the most important match of the tournament (when they only needed a draw) and to Paraguay in the first game of the group stage. 

For the first time in 20 years, Brazil will not take part in the Olympic Games. The last time it missed out was at Athens 2004. Argentina, led by double Olympic football champion Javier Mascherano, has qualified for Paris and will be aiming to become the best Olympic football team in the history by matching Hungary's tally of three gold medals, albeit with more medals overall.A Seleção Brasileira foi superada pela Argentina por 1 a 0 e se despede do Pré-Olímpico sem a classificação para os Jogos Olímpicos de Paris 2024.

📸: Joilson Marconne/CBF pic.twitter.com/3oS80TIP2X

Brazil will no longer be the historical favourites from South America, but Argentina, who has the likes of Garnacho (Manchester United), Buonanotte (Brighton), Nico Paz (Real Madrid) and Lucas Beltrán (Fiorentina) in their U-23 squad. 

Everyone is dreaming of Lionel Messi, who has not ruled out taking part in the games in Paris after playing in the Copa America in the United States. The charm offensive by the Argentine Football Association (AFA) has already launched a charm offensive in the hope that the Santa Fe star will win his second Olympic gold in Paris (he won in Beijing in 2008).

The other team to qualify for the Paris Games is Paraguay, who also won the U-23 pre-Olympic tournament with an impressive 2-0 win over Brazil in their first group match and a 2-0 victory over hosts Venezuela. 

Carlos Jara Saguier's "Albirroja" qualified for the third Olympic Games in its history after Barcelona '92 and Athens '04, where they won silver after losing to Argentina in the final.

Teams qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games:

So far, 12 countries have qualified for Paris out of the 16 places available. There is still the Asian U-23 Championship to be played between April and May, which will decide three direct places for Asia and one in a play-off against Guinea, who finished fourth at the African U-23 Nations Cup.

-France

-Argentina.

-Paraguay.

-United States.

-Dominican Republic.

-Spain.

-Israel.

-Ukraine.

-Egypt.

-Morocco.

-Mali

-New Zealand

-Asia 1.

-Asia 2.

-Asia 3.

-Asia-Africa play-off (Asia 4 vs. Guinea).

The venues:

In addition to the French capital, seven cities will host Olympic football matches:

PARIS: Parc des Princes

NANTES: Stade de la Beaujoire

MARSEILLE: Vélodrome

LYON: Stade de Lyon

SAINT-ÉTIENNE: Stade Geoffroy-Guichard

NICE: Stade de Nice

BORDEAUX: Stade de Bordeaux

Format:

The 16 teams will be drawn into four groups of four, with the top two from each group advancing to the quarter-finals. From there, elimination matches will determine the gold and the bronze medal games.