By Andrew Warshaw
July 24 – Team GB head coach Stuart Pearce says his side will have to hit the ground running if they are to stand any chance of winning an Olympic medal.
After a 52-year men’s football absence from the Games, Team GB hope home advantage can provide the platform for success and despite considerable domestic skepticism about football’s role in the tournament, Pearce (pictured top) has been talking things up.
Team GB open against Senegal at Old Trafford on Thursday, and Pearce recognises how important a good start will be after warm-up defeats against Mexico and Brazil (match pictured below).
“We know physically we’ve got to bring them to the boil in time for the Senegal game,” he said.
“We had in the back of our mind that our first game against Mexico was not going to be the finished article, and probably the same against Brazil, but we have to hit the ground running against Senegal.”
Explaining the reasons behind his three over-age picks – Ryan Giggs, Craig Bellamy and Micah Richards – Pearce told Fifa.com: “It was just a case of having a look at the youngsters on a piece of paper and saying, ‘Right, where are we strong?
“‘We’ve got three picks, where are we weak in certain areas of the pitch?’
“That’s what we’ve done and it’s really down the spine of the team.”
Pearce recognizes that many other countries have been training together for longer and are, therefore, better prepared.
“We’re coming at it in a different way.
“We haven’t had to qualify, the other 15 teams all have, and with that brings a collective – they’ve had longer to prepare the team, more time for the coach to work with the players and get to know them.
“In that respect, yes, we are at a slight disadvantage, where we are at an advantage is we’re on home soil.”
Having been part of the England coaching setup at both senior level and lower down the scale, Pearce can feel “something a little bit special” about London 2012.
Senegal, he says, will pose formidable opposition first time out while the UAE and Uruguay will be potentially just as tough.
“We’ve just seen Senegal beat Spain away 2-0, I saw the game where Senegal qualified against Oman, while UAE come into this with 17 matches behind them.”
With the likes of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani leading Uruguay’s attack, Pearce wishes he could have selected a stronger unit, especially England players who participated at the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, but who were ruled out of London 2012.
“I’ve got seven [under-23] players unavailable to me who were eligible, let alone the over-age players,” said Pearce.
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