After making it to the knock-out stages of the football competition at the London 2012 Olympics, both genders of Team GB’s football teams have lost their quarter finals.
There will be no home team in contention for football medals in this Olympics, but they’re not the first team to creash out unexpectedly early.
Spain’s Olympic team – who include players who won one of the greatest football trophies there is – the world cup, were eliminated by Honduras after failing to win a game in their opening three matches.
Team GB’s Women lost 2-0 to Canada after winning all three of their group games and hitting a fantastic streak of form, highlighting their position as dark horses in the Team GB set up.
Steph Houghton, a utility player who typically plays left back, scored in all three games and hopes that the big crowds Women’s football has experienced in these games continues in the coming season.
The Men made fans sit through another penalty shoot out loss against South Korea – the second we have had to suffer in a year. Usually we have at least two to recover from the bitter disappointment of the last one.
The game finished 1-1 and included a missed penalty and a scored penalty from Aaron Ramsey, who is a captain in the Welsh football kit but lost out on that particular honor to Ryan Giggs.
It was Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge who failed to nestle his football in one of the Millenium Stadium’s football nets, but that meant nine out of ten penalties were scored and it was enough to dump Team GB’s Men out of the competition.
It’s no coincidence that it was attempting to perform a fancy penalty – namely the ‘pausing halfway through the run up trick’ – that ended in Sturridge’s miss, when other players opted for the traditional run and hit it method.
Still, at least we’re doing well in all the other sports.
