Monday, July 30, 2012

Olympic football

Spain's youngsters might be excused for being too young to remember Honduras against Spain in 1982, when Spain, as huge favorites in the World Cup at home, lost 0-1 to the little Central American nation that most Spaniards might be excused not to be able to find on a map.
Today Spain should have been at least as big favorites as they had been in 1982 when the two sides played in the Olympic tournament. But after Spain's poor performance against Japan, it was obvious that Spain was beatable, although surely they could not lose to Honduras!
But they could.
Spain is out of the Olympic tournament, and although many may say it doesn't matter, it is surely a huge disappointment for a country used to winning everything, not only at senior level, but also at youth level.
Uruguay is one of the other pretenders for a gold medal, but have not looked strong in their opening 2-1 victory against the UAE. In their second match they were up against a Senegalese side, that although not talked much about, are surely also a team that have set their eyes on Olympic medals. And with their 2-0 victory against Uruguay Senegal have shown that they must be counted with. Uruguay have a very important match next Wednesday against the British hosts, who after defeating the UAE are looking at the quarterfinals.
Uruguay looks like another big exit to follow Spain.
Brazil on the other hand should now be the number one contenders for the gold, after their second victory of the tournament, 3-1 against Belarus. But if anything, the tournament has shown that no team can afford to underestimate their foes. This is what makes the Olympic football tournament so exciting!

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