Turns out there are no easy games in Olympic football, either. Anyone thinking Great Britain had entered some half-baked, mish-mash of a competition, an inconsequential gathering of kids and has-beens, will be dissuaded of that notion as of now. This was brutal. This was unrelenting. This was, undoubtedly, Olympic sport worthy of the name.
Only a point was taken, but at least a point was proven. Having battled Senegal it cannot be said that Team GB footballers are a band apart. An 83rd-minute equalising goal may have pricked the buoyant Team GB bubble, but at least nobody can claim Stuart Pearce’s Premier League professionals are less than committed to the cause any more.
It transpires many people do take Olympic football very seriously indeed — and a large number of them were wearing the white shirts of Senegal on Friday night. By gum those lads could tackle, as Stuart Hall might say. Mostly it was hard but fair, sometimes it was hard but borderline, on the odd occasion it was hard but slightly deranged.
If Team GB had not been united and committed it would have been very easy to go missing. Watching from their armchairs at home, or perhaps on pre-season tours, club managers would have winced at the fury of it all.
This was as full-blooded as any international fixture, and what it lacked in quality it made up for in heart. Naturally, Craig Bellamy loved it. He left the field to the night’s most remarkable sight, a standing ovation at Old Trafford for a former Manchester City player, now starring for Liverpool. It was thoroughly deserved, too. Bellamy’s first-half goal should have won the game, and he was off the field when Moussa Konate levelled for Senegal.
Not that Bellamy could have done much about it. Micah Richards could, but he had turned his back on the play. For those who cannot understand why international managers prefer Glen Johnson and Kyle Walker, there is the answer. Richards has a champion in Pearce but his faith was not rewarded on Friday night.
Having defended well until that point, a momentary lapse seven minutes from time allowed Konate in and that was all Senegal needed. It was a great pass and he took it well, but it will be hard for Great Britain from here. Next up are the United Arab Emirates at Wembley, but the earlier match revealed them to be a nimble, skilful, if less physically imposing team. Finally, Uruguay and Luis Suarez. Don’t turn your back on him, either.
On paper, being Team GB looks easy. Pearce’s players hail from Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool, rather than Tromso, Diambars, Kharkiv and Boulogne. GB had three players who had won the Champions League, Senegal just one who was likely to play in it next season. If only it were that simple, though.
The fact is, had London not won the bid to host in 2012, the football arm of Team GB would not exist. The last time Britain competed in an Olympic event was 1960 and there was more chance of The Beatles getting back together than a reformation had politics not intervened.
The determination to be represented in all events at a home Olympics brought this group together and it is widely accepted that, when this tournament is done, their like will not be seen again. Looking at their shirts — the work of Stella, although the fashion designer or the lager it is impossible to say — we should be thankful for this much at least.
A scratch team, however well appointed, creates its own problems. Playing for the British and Irish Lions is regarded as the career pinnacle in rugby union, yet stitched together and against opposition that have had years to develop an understanding, they are often less than the sum of the parts.
And Pearce hardly has a full complement of greats from which to choose. This is an Under 23 competition with three over-age players attached, presumably so the major broadcasters do not lose interest entirely.
By the time the refusenik stances of Scotland and Northern Ireland have been factored in, Pearce is left with a combined England and Wales team, and 90 minutes of match preparation, helpfully set up against Brazil, who look so far in advance of anything else in the tournament that the medal engraver could get the gold one done now and take an early cut on the weekend of the final.
Undercooked is not the half of it. There are sushi restaurants in Tokyo serving up fare at a higher temperature than this GB team, so it must have come as an enormous relief to Pearce when the hosts took the lead. To further vindicate his decision-making, the goal was the work of two of his wildcards, the ones selected in favour of football’s equivalent of the People’s Princess, David Beckham.
Ryan Giggs took a free kick from the left, Abdoulaye Ba failed to get sufficient distance with his header and the ball fell to Bellamy to strike his volley into the ground, pitching up to nestle in the far corner.
Old Trafford went wild; well, as wild as a Team GB crowd is ever going to go. This was not the average football mob, lacking the tribalism and the incomprehensible rage that is standard at Premier League venues.
They were supportive of GB but as this is a team formed on the hoof, it lacks identity. There are no real songs and odd outbreaks of chanting did not last as long, sadly, as the interminable round of Mexican waves that began after 12 minutes.
Indeed the crowd, a nice bunch, only caught on to the mugging that was taking place towards the end. Suarez, playing for Uruguay in the tie prior to GB’s appearance, was given a harder time than any Senegal bruiser until the moment Saliou Ciss took Bellamy off at the knee in the penalty area.
He got the bird after that, which was more than he got from Uzbekistani referee Ravshan Irmatov, who awarded a Senegal goal kick. Maybe they play different rules in this competition. It’s Olympic football, what do we know?
OTHER OLYMPIC FOOTBALL NEWS:
- New Chelsea signing Oscar played a starring role as Brazil were forced to fend off a brave fightback from Egypt at the Millennium Stadium.
- The midfielder set up Rafael and Leandro Damiao for the first two Brazil goals, before Neymar made it 3-0 at half-time.
- The South Americans took their foot off the gas after the break and were punished as Mohamed Aboutrika and Mohamed Salah pulled goals back for Egypt, but it was not enough for the Africans in this Group C clash.
- Meanwhile, Belarus marked their first appearance at a major tournament since gaining independence 21 years ago with victory over New Zealand in the same group at the City of Coventry Stadium.
- An error of judgment by stand-in Kiwis keeper Michael O'Keeffe gifted Belarus midfielder Dmitry Baga the only goal on the stroke of half-time.
- In Group A Japan beat Spain, world and European champions at international level, 1-0. Despite playing Chelsea’s Juan Mata and Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea, Spain struggled. Yuki Otsu scored the only goal of the game from a 34th-minute corner.
By MARTIN SAMUEL
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