TEAM GB: or should that be team England + Wales?

To many sports stars, the Olympic Games are considered the pinnacle of their careers.

Not so however, in terms of footballers. Especially British ones who have become so obsessed with waxing over the Premier League and Champions League that they barely remembered that the Games also present a platform on which to show their skills.

It is this frame of mind why many believe that the world’s game does not deserve a spot in the World’s games. In Britain, the Olympics have had to be brought to our shores for a re-incarnation of the Team GB football side, which last took part at the Games back in 1960. After that shock return was announced, more uncertainty was raised when two of the four nations opted to pull out (Scotland and Northern Ireland) before a waft of bigwigs at respective FA’s heavily criticised the idea.

I for one am not a massive fan of football being a part of the Games, but I’m even less in favour of cobbling a side together at the last minute, when it’s clear that all the countries in GB are clearly not united in favour.  

After the debacle over whether the team should be formed and then which nations wanted to play a part in it, we were recently informed of the players that would represent GB. The key components of the 18-man squad that was chosen by Stuart Pearce are unsurprisingly young English talent, splattered with a handful of Welsh players, the temperamental Craig Bellamy and the evergreen Ryan Giggs.

A ball has yet to be kicked by the newly-formed team and yet already head coach Stuart Pearce has come under criticism for not selecting national hero David Beckham. The decision has to be commended as it shows Psycho’s ability to make tough decisions, when it would have been so easy to bow to public pressure.

Despite being a “new” side, GB are already experiencing problems familiar to many British sides on the eve of a major tournament. Gareth Bale was recently ruled out through injury, whilst Daniel Sturridge this week was contracted with viral meningitis but says he is hopeful of being fit for London. However you get the sense that these will not be the last injury worries for Pearce ahead of the Games.

>             Oh and one other thing, whose idea was it to choose Coventry as one of six venues? Surely Leeds, Nottingham and Birmingham would have been more suitable choices compared to the home of a third division club in a city that is, with all due respect, unable to compete with the other five (London, Manchester, Newcastle, Cardiff & Glasgow)