For Olympic glory

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Juan Mata

Many people claim that football should not be a part of the Summer Olympics. There is merit in this argument as football has its own premier tournaments such as the World Cup, whereas, for other sporting events like athletics, Olympic gold is the pinnacle.

Football hogging the limelight at the Olympics would be a tragedy for those athletes who have spent the last four years training for this moment. However, as things stand, there will be a gold medal to compete for in football and it is heartening to see teams taking the event seriously and not competing half-heartedly as they have been known to do in the past editions of the Olympics.
Brazil, in particular, have named a strong side which is filled with their current generation of wunderkinds. Neymar, Ganso, Oscar, Hulk and Alexander Pato are included and look to be the strongest team in the competition. Having not won a single Olympic title, Brazil will be keen to exhibit their new generation to the world, especially considering their recent drought of talent.
Their main competition is Spain, who are sending three of their Euro winning squad-members to the Games. Juan Mata, Jordi Alba and Javi Martinez will join the likes of David De Gea, Ander Herrera and Iker Munian and aim to complete a brilliant quadruple of tournament victories. A win here will consolidate their position as the best in the world.
The main highlight of this tournament is going to be the presence of the Great Britain football team. Much of the publicity has been surrounding the controversial decision by manager Stuart Pearce of not picking David Beckham in his squad. However, in his stead, leading Team GB onto the pitch will be Manchester United veteran Ryan Giggs who will be playing in his first major international tournament at the age of 38. Home advantage is in their favour, though the fact that the players included have not played together before will prove to be an obstacle.
With the rules allowing only three players above the age of 23 in the Olympic squad, the Games provide an opportunity to take a glimpse of the young talents from around the world.