Stuart Pearce: This GB football team could be start of great things

 
25 July 2012

Team GB coach Stuart Pearce believes a successful London Olympics could lead to the controversial concept being continued at further Games.

Great Britain have not even attempted to qualify for the competition since 1972, and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Football Associations were opposed to a combined team entering this time around, despite assurances from FIFA that it would not affect their independence as footballing nations.

It means interest in football at the Olympics tends to be lukewarm, a view which transcends to the media judging by the poor turnout at Pearce's press conference at Old Trafford yesterday, which looked ahead to tomorrow night's encounter with Senegal.

However, what Pearce had to say to the seven members of the media who were present, was that this event could trigger an excitement supporters would want to be repeated, should any of the Home Nations secure another shot at Olympic glory through UEFA's Under-21 competition.

Pearce said: "The fact we have sold out blue-chip stadiums gives us a fantastic opportunity to sow the seed and say can this happen more often?

"We can say to the general public in Great Britain 'look, this is a valid tournament'."

Greeted with those scores of empty seats, Pearce smiled and said: "We could have done this in my bedroom."

A communication breakdown may have been responsible for the lack of numbers.

There is no doubt though, at an event more usually associated with athletes, swimmers, cyclists, horse riders and other sports who, however briefly, get to enjoy the kind of attention bestowed on the round ball game for the rest of the year, football seems a little out of place.

This view ignores the fact football has been an Olympic event since 1900 and has amongst its gold medalists Lev Yashin, Samuel Eto'o, Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi.

Seventy thousand people have been enthused enough to get themselves tickets for tomorrow's game, the second part of a double-header which also includes tournament heavyweights Uruguay taking on United Arab Emirates.

And Pearce feels those at the game, and the ones watching on TV, are in for a shock.

"We do belittle," he said.

"If I roll the clock back a calendar year, I was fortunate to go with England to Colombia for the Under-20s World Cup.

"We played a group match against Argentina in front of 44,000 people. The standard was fantastic, the tournament and the exposure were fantastic. Very few people in England knew there was a tournament going on.

"That is how we underestimate tournaments. The same will apply to the Olympics."

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