The unlikely lads. British footballers could yet become Olympic heroes

Could this over-paid motley crew really end up on the podium?

Football and the Olympics are an uneasy fit at the best of times. This can be seen by the fact that so many tickets were impossible to shift for this year's Olympics football tournament and the way that, unlike every other sport at London 2012, the organisers have decided to take the tournament around the whole of Great Britain, including Glasgow, Cardiff, Manchester, Newcastle and, somewhat surprisingly, Coventry. In fact, the confusion over rules in the Olympic tournament back in the 1920s led to the creation of the football World Cup, which launched in 1930, and ever since the Olympic football tournament has lived an unusual existence, particularly in the way it is perceived in England. 

So when Great Britain progressed last night as group winners, after defeating a talented but disappointing Uruguay side 1-0 at the Millennium Stadium, it came as something of a surprise as a team who hadn't competed in the Olympics tournament since 1960 were suddenly very much in the running for a medal. The controversy of a Team GB football team competing stems from the fact that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have their own football governing bodies, meaning they are on equal footing as other independent countries within UEFA and FIFA and even have a disproportional say within IFAB, football's rule-making body, due to the way the organisation was originally set up (each home nation has one vote each, and the rest of FIFA has only four votes, meaning it is a 50/50 split between the UK and the rest of the world). Proud Scotsmen, Welshmen and Irishmen have opposed the existence of a GB football team due to fear of losing the privileges enjoyed as individual nations, and the thought of a Great Britain team replacing the national teams of the home nations in all football competitions. However, with host status granting Great Britain a place in the finals, the FA took the initiative and the Team GB football team was re-formed albeit with no Scots or Irishmen eventually selected.

But British football does have a history within the Olympics. A team representing England won gold in 1908, in the days when all Olympic footballers had to be amateurs. The English even retained the crown in 1912. Uruguay emerged as a force in the 1920s and their back-to-back successes in 1924 and 1928, in front of huge crowds, led to them hosting and winning the inaugural World Cup in 1930 (a forerunner to Spain's recent triple tournament success). This lead to the football being dropped for 1932 but Adolf Hitler's Nazi government ensured that it returned to the 1936 Berlin Games where they needed to attract large crowd. At this infamous Olympics, a Great Britain side featured and included 13 Englishmen, five Scots, two Welshmen and two Northern Irishmen. The team went out to Poland in the quarter-finals but they returned after World War II, where they were managed by Manchester United boss Matt Busby. But by the 1960s Britain started failing to qualify and in 1974 the FA realised that as all footballers in the country were paid to some extent, there were no amateurs left to compete and GB stopped entering.

Rule changes in the 1980s led to the tournament which we have today, no longer amateur but an under-23 competition. The addition of three overage players was later included in the rules and the tournament has gained popularity in many parts of the world, including South America and Africa. This explains why Brazil are so desperate to win this tournament, and with the premature departure of a shockingly out-of-form Spain under-23 side, are the strong favourites. Brazil have won five World Cups and plenty of Copa Americas so the Olympics is the only obvious gaping hole in their trophy cabinet. As well as this, they are hosting the 2014 World Cup, so without qualification matches, they need all the competitive action they can get. Mano Menezes, the boss of the senior Brazil side, is at the helm in this competition and is attempting to groom Neymar, Oscar, Rafael and co. into a side capable of rivalling the sides of Ronaldo, Pele, Zico and Romario that have starred in the past. If he fails to take the gold, it is rumoured he will be sacked.

While Great Britain are likely to meet Brazil in the semi-finals, should they overcome a beatable South Korea side on Saturday, Stuart Pearce's charges should certainly be targeting a medal. Brazil have looked vulnerable defensively, letting in two goals to Egypt and one to Belarus whereas the British have been solid at the back. Crucially, even if the hosts fail to topple the South Americans, a play-off will allow the opportunity to claim a bronze medal. Jack Butland, the young Birmingham City goalkeeper has starred in goal, and in front of him Steven Caulker and Micah Richards have provided a reliable back line. The experience of captain Ryan Giggs has been priceless and his young Manchester United team-mate Tom Cleverley is showing the talent he displayed briefly last season before injury struck. With Daniel Sturridge, Scott Sinclair and Craig Bellamy looking incisive at the sharp end of the pitch, there is no reason why this Great Britain side can take one of the least-expected medals of the Games back to the Team GB camp. Due to the qualification system in place, Great Britain won't ever be able to compete in the Olympics again unless they are hosting, or the rules radically change. But if they finish on the podium this time, it would have been worth all the effort and there will be plenty of cries for a repeat.

There's plenty more where this came from. The Search for Excellence will be back tomorrow with the second installment of the Friday Feeling! And don't even think about not following James on Twitter @TSFE2012 !

The Friday Feeling #1

This is the Friday Feeling. The first installation of a hat-trick of features which will appear on The Search for Excellence every Friday (you guessed it) during the Olympics. Expect some astute observations, irreverent opinions and priceless nuggets of information...possibly.

A huge advertisement hoarding by the Olympic Park 

TODAY


So the day has finally arrived. The Olympics are due to officially launch this evening with Danny Boyle's much-anticipated Opening Ceremony. Although in reality the tournament is already underway as earlier this morning legally blind ( I know?!) South Korean Im Dong Hyun recorded the first world record of the tournament with the best score in the men's Archery individual ranking round at Lord's Cricket Ground, with his country also triumphing in the team ranking round and setting another world record along the way with a score of 2087 (Team GB came 8th out of 12 scoring 1994 ). The women's archers are also in action this afternoon and of course, the first round of the football tournament has already taken place, although none of the games took place in London. But tonight, approximately four billion people are expected to tune in for the much anticipated ceremony where a bunch of people will prance around a stadium for a couple of hours before somebody lights a fire. It's all very exciting. But what does everyone else think?


THE MOOD


How else to judge the mood of the public than with the instant opinion generator that is known as Twitter.It's a pretty mixed bag of thoughts judging by the following:


It must be noted that this first girl is a 16-year-old Australian who is a self-confessed One Direction fan.

already sick of the Olympics and they haven't even started! #olympics #london2012
— maddie cameron (@maddie_cameron) July 27, 2012

This girl from Surrey is certainly getting into it...

Olympic fever has officially set in, beyond excited... #teamGB #backtheteam #london2012
— Emily Spencer (@elspencer1) July 27, 2012

As is this fellow from Dover...

8hours and 12minutes to go :D #OpeningCeremony #London2012 amazing times!!
— Richard James-King (@RichardKing_RJK) July 27, 2012

This man from Cornwall is clearly not at all interested.

Are the #london2012 Olympics over yet?
— Nicky (@cashinol) July 27, 2012

Whereas this woman from Kent is clearly over the moon! Not exactly sure what 'me my pants' is meant to mean though.

I think I could almost me my pants I'm that excited about the Olympics. Cannot wait for the opening ceremony tonight #Olympics #London2012
— Tracy Crampton (@tracy_crampton) July 27, 2012

Judging by the 60,000 who turned up in Hyde Park for the torch relay and the huge numbers expected to be watching tonight, it does seem that the overall mood is of excitement and anticipation. So what could possibly go wrong?!


THE BLUNDERS


Well already there has been a couple of high profile cock-ups. The worst being the mix-up of the North Korean and South Korean flags on the big screens at Hampden Park ahead of North Korea's women's football match with Colombia. Such an amateur mistake, with the two flags hardly being similar (see picture below) is inexcusable at an event as high-profile as the Olympics and the North Koreans are not exactly the sort to take it lightly. In fact it is believed that the women storming off the pitch in protest was as much due to their fear of getting into trouble with North Korean authorities as it was down to their being genuinely offended. This was followed up yesterday with the official match program at the Team GB vs Senegal men's football game listing Welsh midfielder Joe Allen as being English. While this is a less serious offence, it would certainly have irked many Welshman, including those within the Welsh FA who were hardly receptive to the idea of their Welsh footballers competing under the guise of Team GB. Yet another blunder has occurred at the Westfield shopping centre, next to the Olympic Park, where 'Welcome' has been written in many different languages but the Arabic version was written backwards rendering it illegible. The irony is that Westfield is in the borough of Newham, which happens to be the UK's most multi-lingual region. Oh dear.

Quite a difference...The North Korea flag is on the left

THE QUESTION


The big one today has to be, who is going to have the privilege of becoming the final torchbearer and light the flame in the cauldron at the Olympic Stadium tonight? In recent weeks it has looked like a two-horse race between Sir Steve Redgrave, the legendary Olympian who won a gold medal rowing at every Olympics from 1984 to 2000, and Sir Roger Bannister, the now 83-year-old who ran the first sub four-minute mile back in 1954. However, this morning the odds on Daniel Craig, the current James Bond actor who is set to be involved in the Opening Ceremony tonight, have dropped rapidly to 3/1 at the time of writing. David Beckham, controversially omitted from Team GB's football squad remains in the running as does the Queen, whose odds have also dropped overnight and are now at 6/1. Whoever does step up tonight is certainly going to be winning some people a fair bit of money.

The Queen and Daniel Craig, two of the contenders to light the torch

THE VILLAIN


Whoever was behind the Korean flag blunder could be a contender for this accolade, as could Phillips Idowu, the triple jumper who seems bizarrely adverse to complying with the BOA and the rest of Team GB. But head and shoulders above the rest is Voula Papachristou. The Greek triple jumper has been expelled from the Olympics by the Greek Olympic Committee after making a racist joke on Twitter. Following reports of mosquitoes in her home country carrying the West Nile virus, the 23-year-old tweeted, 'With so many Africans in Greece, at least the West Nile Mosquitoes will eat home made food!' She later apologised but the damage had been done and the Greek authorities said her tweet was 'contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement.' The tweet was clearly tasteless, offensive and unnecessary so it is not surprising that the Greeks have now banned all their athletes from tweeting opinions during the Olympics. Is it really that hard not to say something stupid? Apparently so.

Papachristou will not be gracing the sandpits of London this year

THE SUPERHERO


Who else but Bradley Wiggins, who has handed Team GB a huge boost going into London 2012, by conquering the Tour de France last weekend. The first ever Brit to win the famed road cycling tournament, he has his eyes set on gold in the Time Trial next Wednesday. Before that he will be competing in the Road Race tomorrow, although he will be focused on helping his Team Sky and Team GB team-mate Mark Cavendish to gold, even if the two don't always see eye-to-eye. If Cavendish, the sprint-specialist from the Isle of Man and mod-loving Wiggins bring home the medals then 2012 will surely go down as the very greatest year for British Cycling. A golden era may well be upon us.

Wiggins, right, will be assisting Cavendish, in tomorrow's Road Race

From today The Search for Excellence will be posting articles daily for the duration of London 2012! Come back tomorrow for some Road Cycling fun and don't forget to follow James on Twitter @TSFE2012