By Andrew Warshaw at Old Trafford in Manchester
July 26 – It may not be have been as humiliating a gaffe as the North Korea flag incident at Hampden Park in Glasgow 24 hours earlier, but organisers of the Olympic football tournament had more red faces today when the official programme for Team GB listed Welsh midfielder Joe Allen as being English.
The Olympic men’s football tournament gets underway today, and although 16 teams start with hopes of success there are three countries that stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Brazil, Spain and Uruguay could well be the teams taking away gold, silver and bronze this summer, although in which order is harder to predict. But it is difficult to see beyond them when it comes to anticipating the next two weeks.
For Brazil,
By Andrew Warshaw
July 26 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter says Gareth Bale (pictured) could be banned from playing any further friendly matches for his club, Tottenham Hotspur, for the duration of the Olympic Games.
By David Gold
July 25 – The reigning Olympic champions, the United States, were given an almighty scare by France in their opening match of defending their women’s football title, but eventually came through to register a 4-2 win at Hampden Park in Glasgow.
By David Gold
July 25 – The opening day of sport at London 2012 has sparked a row with North Korea after the South Korean flag was mistakenly displayed prior to their women’s football opener against Colombia at Hampden Park in Glasgow.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 25 – Global attention may be focussed on Friday’s Olympic Opening Ceremony but the first competitive action of London 2012 got under way today – not in the capital but at Cardiff ‘s Millennium stadium 150 miles away.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 25 – David Beckham, controversially left out of the Team GB squad at London 2012, is to be given a cameo role at Friday’s Opening Ceremony – but he will not be lighting the cauldron.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 25 – The first major off-the-field controversy surrounding the make-up of the Team GB men’s football team flared up today when it emerged that Welsh star Gareth Bale – who had withdrawn citing injury – played for his club Tottenham Hotspur instead thousands of miles away in Los Angeles.
By David Gold
July 25 – Rafael Cabral has been forced to withdraw from Brazil’s Olympic men’s football squad with an elbow injury.
The Football Association (FA) does not often deserve sympathy. It has certainly had little over the John Terry affair which had such dramatic consequences that it produced, arguably, the most unexpected collateral damage ever seen in the game. England lost their manager Fabio Capello just months before the second most important tournament in the world. And this, in turn, set off a chain of reactions that also contributed to the departure of Harry Redknapp from Tottenham Hotspur.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 25 – One of the longest running debacles in English football could be close to a sad conclusion with the news that south-coast club Portsmouth are in grave danger of going out of business.
By David Gold
July 25 – After the bombshell that Robin van Persie would not be renewing his Arsenal deal, O2 have decided to end their association with the Premier League club as well.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 25 – Three clubs, two French and one Gabonese, have refused to release players to compete for Gabon at London 2012, putting them on a collision course with FIFA.
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.
By David Gold
July 24 – Two new names have been thrown into the ring for the Russian Football Union (RFU) President role.