What you need to know about football in the Olympics

MANILA, Philippines – Football has taken the back seat from the past few weeks.

The European leagues have ended, Spain has been crowned European champions once again after their 4-0 beating of Italy in the final, and of course here in our shores, Global FC was crowned champions in the recently concluded United Football League. Additionally, Loyola Meralco Sparks booked their place in the semifinals in the RHB Singapore Cup.  

However there is still one more football event that will allow die-hard fans, or fans just desperate to have a football fix during the off-season, a glimpse of their favorite players once again: this time on one of the world’s grandest stage, the 2012 London Olympics.

UK in focus

Football in the Olympics is not relatively new as it has been held since 1900 and has seen several players guide their teams to Olympic glory similar to that of a World Cup triumph, but this one is different from the World Cup as the teams fielded here are not the senior national teams.

Rather it is the country’s Under-23 (U23) squad along with three overage players that will be representing their flag.

Sixteen teams will be fighting it out for the Olympic gold across the United Kingdom including England’s home stadium Wembley in London, Manchester United’s Theatre of Dreams at Old Trafford, City of Coventry Stadium in Coventry, Newcastle United’s home St. James Park, Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, the home of the Welsh national team and Hampden Park in Glasgow, the home of Scottish national team.

All eyes however will be on the host nation Great Britain as they try to negate any negative media on the team after former England captain and current Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham was left out of the final squad. 

Beckham was a favorite among the fans to lead the side, with his international appeal to the global market and being one of the representatives of the London Olympic bid.

However the shock decision by manager Stuart Pearce denied Beckham what could have been his swansong for the hosts. 

Football favorites 

This will also be the first time since 1960 that the home nation will be participating in the tournament after winning it twice in 1908 and 1912.

Beckham’s former Manchester United team mate and the club’s longest serving player Ryan Giggs will be leading Great Britain in the side filled with Welsh and English players, among them Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale, Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey and Manchester City’s Adam Johnson. 

Aside from the hosts, both Spain and Brazil will also grab all the attention in the tournament.

After retaining the European championships earlier this month, Spain will be looking to grab another medal in the Olympics. Barcelona’s recent signing of Jordi Alba and Chelsea’s Juan Mata have already been confirmed to join La Furia Roja in the tournament after a victorious Euro 2012 campaign.

Brazil, on the other hand, hopes to end as winners this time around with a strong young squad.

Brazil coach Mano Menezes will be relying on Neymar and Hulk to be at their best and prove their suitors more in the grandest stage. Despite being crowned winners of the World Cup for a record five times, Brazil has not been able to claim Olympic glory and has settled for silver and bronze.

World competitors

Brazil won’t be alone as South America’s representative after Uruguay also qualified in the tournament.

La Celeste are they are called, won in 1924 and 1928 as back-to-back Olympic winners, but it took them 84 years to return once again in the quadrennial meet. Things have changed for Uruguay after a semifinal run in the World Cup coupled with a victorious Copa America title last year in Argentina.

Asia will also be represented in the tournament as both fierce rivals Japan and South Korea also qualified.

Both teams made it to the finals along with the United Arab Emirates to earn a crack in the tournament, and to show how much the Asians have improved in the world stage after already making their mark in the World Cup with South Korea emerging as semifinalists in 2002.

Completing the list that will vie for Olympic glory are Mexico, Honduras, Belarus, Egypt, Gabon, Senegal, Morocco, New Zealand and Switzerland.

It is surprising that Argentina, despite winning the competition in 2008, did not qualify in the tournament along with runner-up Nigeria.

Barcelona striker Lionel Messi and now-Manchester City player Carlos Tevez were the key players in the gold medal run in that also saw Messi breaking through to become one of the world’s best players, winning the Champions League twice and a hat-trick of La Liga titles for Barcelona.

For now, as the off-season takes its toil (and the transfer window continues to give shocks with the player movements), Olympic football can remedy the weary football fan deprived of action.

The tournament is set to start on July 26 and will end on August 11 with the gold medal match to be held at Wembley Stadium. – Rappler.com