Olympic Soccer Means A Lot To Brazil

Although fans from Italy, Spain, Germany, and Argentina may disagree, Brazil is the most storied and successful international football team of all-time. With their quick and deceptive foot-skills, the Brazilians have been a powerhouse in international football for decades, as their 5 World Cups are more than any other nation.

Despite the fact that Brazil has historically been the most feared and dominate international football team, their results have not been great in recent years.

The Brazilians lost to France in the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup and fell once again in the same round in South Africa to the Dutch with former captain Dunga at the helm. Under current boss Mano Menezes, the green and yellow have not feared much better, as the side lost in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Copa America to Paraguay (their earliest exit from the tournament since 2001).

Brazil's poor results have led to mounting pressure on the team to perform well in the Olympics, especially with the upcoming 2014 World Cup taking place in their home country. Although the Brazilians are dying to take home gold in the Olympics, as it is the only international football tournament that they have never won, the Olympics are even more crucial for the green and yellow because of the huge competition that will be taking place in their country in two years time.

Due to the fact that players under the age of 23 except for three over age exceptions are the only ones that are allowed to participate in Olympic soccer, the competition is not often seen as all too significant. Since most national teams don't rely on too many younger players for their senior squad, the Olympics may not look like a huge barometer for the progress of a national team.

For example, aside from left back Jordi Alba, Spain's entire Euro 2012 championship team will be over the age of 23 by the end of this calendar year. Also, just two players on Uruguay's 2011 Copa America championship team were under the age of 23 at the time of the competition.

But things are much different when you look at Brazil, as the national team is undergoing a youth movement. Brazil has made a transition from the days of Ronaldinho to what the future holds for younger stars like Neymar.

Brazil's 2010 World Cup roster was highly criticized for not including enough youth and quickness. Dunga's squad of players such as Juan, Gilberto Melo, Felipe Melo, Gilberto Silva, and Luis Fabiano has been completely changed in favor of younger talent such as Rafael, Marcelo, Sandro, Lucas Moura, Oscar, Ganso, Hulk, Neymar, Alexandre Pato, and Leandro Damiao.

It is almost unfathomable to think that Brazil can have so much talent that is so young in age. European clubs are dying for all of these young Brazilian stars, which shows how much talent these youngsters possess.

Manchester United is strongly interested in 19-year old midfielder Lucas Moura, as the Red Devils are willing to pay his club Sao Paulo 30 million euros for his services. Attacking midfielder and classic number 10 Oscar, who is just 20 years old, is being linked to Chelsea in a 25 million euro transfer from Internacional. Brazilian winger Hulk has been linked to a move to Chelsea for over a year for a transfer fee around 40 to 50 million euros. Leandro Damiao, a talented striker for Brazil, has been a target of Tottenham, who are willing to give Internacional about 15 million euros for the 22 year old. Finally, if a team were to try and swoop Neymar, who Pele has said is better than Lionel Messi, they would have to offer around 70 to 80 million euros for the gifted striker.

Since most of Brazil's Olympic squad is going to be competing in the 2014 World Cup, it is vital that they take home gold in the competition. Considering that their talent level is head and heals ahead of the other teams in the competition, anything less then a gold medal will be a complete failure.

Not that Brazil need any help, but their group looks pretty promising, as they should have no trouble with Egypt, Belarus, and New Zealand.

But the competition will not be a cakewalk for the green and yellow. If there are no major upsets, the Brazilians will likely meet Great Britain or Uruguay in the semifinals and then square off against Spain, which won the 2011 U-21 European Championship, in the finals.

Although Britain's senior squad has been disappointing for decades, their Olympic roster actually looks quite strong and they will also have the added boost of playing in their home country. With a strong midfield with Aaron Ramsey and Tom Cleverley and speed on the wings and up front with Scott Sinclair and Daniel Sturridge, the question for the British will be how their back line holds up.

Uruguay's squad, which qualified for the Olympics by edging out Argentina in the 2011 South American Youth Championship, is dangerous as well. Their outstanding striker duo of Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez will be a threat for every team they take on.

Finally, Spain are a difficult opponent in any football competition that they are in. Their three over age players, Javi Martinez, Juan Mata, and Adrian Lopez, will likely provide support for their talented squad including midfielders Isco and Oriol Romeu as well as talented winger from Athletic Bilbao Iker Muniain.

After silver medals in 1984 and 1988 and bronze medals in 1996 and 2008, Brazil look poised to finally capture the elusive Olympic soccer gold. Anything less than a victory will likely cause Mano Menezes his job, especially considering how good this Brazilian Olympic team should be.

What We Learned Yesterday From Euro 2012

Germany and Netherlands Look Better Than Ever: Although the Germans and the Dutch were playing two inferior opponents on Friday, they both showed that they are playing some of the best soccer in the world. Germany, ranked number 3 in the FIFA rankings, picked apart Austria at home in a 6-2 victory. Lukas Podolski, who had a goal in the victory, is confident that his team has a good chance at winning Euro 2012 saying, "We are definitely one of the favorites and we will play for the title, and we want to win it too. It was a great evening of football." Mesut Ozil added this same opinion as he said, "We know what we are capable of and our aim has got to be to win the title." Germany has looked so impressive recently because of the great play it has gotten from its midfield. Bastian Schweinsteiger is a rock in the middle of the field and Mesut Ozil is one of the hardest players in the world to defend against because of his creativity and ability to score. The Real Madrid midfielder had a hat trick in the 6-2 blowout. The Netherlands have been just as impressive at the Germans. In 7 qualification games the Dutch have scored 32 goals including 24 in their last four games. In their first game since becoming the number 1 team in the FIFA rankings, the Netherlands destroyed San Marino 11-0 at home. Robin Van Persie had 4 goals, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar had 2 goals, and Wesley Sneider had 2 goals in the rout that displayed the sides’ offense firepower. The Netherlands is so good that Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who leads the tournament with 10 goals, didn't even make the Netherlands squad that lost in the World Cup finals to Spain.

Group B And Group C Are Still Very Tight: With 7 matches already played and just 3 matches remaining, Group B is still up for grabs. Russia, Ireland, and Slovakia all have a chance to finish at the top of the group and get an automatic berth into Euro 2012. The big result on Friday was the 0-0 draw in Dublin between Ireland and Slovakia. Now, Ireland and Slovakia are two points behind Russia, who are at the top of the group after their 1-0 win over Macedonia in Moscow. There is still a lot of soccer left however. Russia has the hardest schedule remaining of the three teams, as they still have to play Ireland at home and Slovakia on the road. Ireland and Slovakia will be going for it all against Russia because anything less than a win will put them in harms way of finishing outside of the top two in the group. Unlike Group B, it is clear who is going to win Group C. Italy is at the top of the table with 19 points and have conceded just 1 goal in 7 games. The second place spot in Group C is as close as you well ever see. Slovenia, Serbia, Estonia, and Northern Ireland are all fighting for second place, so they can earn an opportunity to play in a two-legged playoff in November to get into Euro 2012. Friday's result brought all the teams within two points of each other as Serbia beat Northern Ireland on the road 1-0 and Estonia went to Slovenia and beat them on the road 2-1. Currently, Slovenia and Serbia are sitting on 11 points but Slovenia has played 8 games, while Serbia has played just 7. Estonia has 10 points from 8 games, while Northern Ireland is sitting on 9 points from 7 games. The loss to Estonia was a crushing one for Slovenia. After conceding a penalty in the 29th minute, Slovenia trailed for nearly the entire game until in the 77th minute striker Tim Matavz tied the game at 1. Just as Slovenia thought they had at least salvaged a point from the game, Estonia came right back and scored a goal 3 minutes later to win the huge game 2-1. Although the loss is a very tough one for Slovenia, they have a chance to make it up, as they play Serbia at home on October 11th in the final match of Group C.

Israel and Belarus Are On The Brink Of Elimination: Israel and Belarus both had an opportunity yesterday to get back into the mix in their respective groups. However, neither team took advantage of their opportunity and they both are in deep danger of missing out of Euro 2012. Israel had a huge game at home against the group leaders Greece. The game was deadlocked until Sotirls Ninis of Greece netted a goal home in the 60th minute to score the only goal of the game and give Greece a 1-0 victory. Israel is currently 4 points behind Greece and 3 behind Croatia, who beat Malta 3-1, and Israel have played one more game than both teams. Their chances of making Euro 2012 look very slime right about now. Belarus also had a huge game at home in Minsk against Bosnia-Herzegovina. Coming into the game, Belarus led Bosnia-Herzegovina by 2 points but they had played one more game. Bosnia-Heregovina jumped right on Belarus and scored two goals in the first 25 minutes to win the game on the road 2-0. The win puts Bosnia-Herzegovina two points ahead of Belarus and they have played one less game as well. Unless Belarus can pull off something great and get help from Bosnia, they are going to miss out on Euro 2012.