Stuart Pearce’s much discussed Great Britain football team had their final warm-up game against Brazil at the Riverside Stadium last Friday.
But seriously – how well do we think they’ll do at the Olympics?
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Team GB’s first run-out did not go well. A header from Sandro and Neymar penalty gave Brazil a 2-0 victory – a result which perhaps could have been expected of a country with such a grand history of winning football trophies.
Worryingly though, Team GB didn’t seem to be able to get going. There were a few moments, but more often than not they were spoiled by sloppy offsides – mistakes they’ll have tried to correct in training, but surely no amount of time on the football training equipment can excuse being offside.
It was not a good outing for the senior players, especially Micah Richards who brought down Hulk in the penalty area earning himself a yellow card and handing Brazil their second goal. Bellamy and Giggs were unable to make a massive difference against a Brazil team that is showing a lot of potential and will almost certainly be in contention for gold football medals, and in future would be expected to don the senior national football kit before contending that most coveted of football trophies, the World Cup.
With the Olympic football games beginning on July 26th, Pearce doesn’t have long to figure out what to do with his team. After an unexpected strong showing in the Euros by England, the nation will surely expect Team GB to at least make the final stages of the games.
Team GB take on Senegal in their first game on July 26th in Manchester, followed by the United Arab Emirates on Sunday July 29th at Wembley Stadium. Their final group game is against past champions Uruguay on August 1st in the Millennium Stadium.
So with GB expecting big things from the country this Olympic Games, can Pearce and co. deliver?
Image Rights: UK in Brazil
