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GAME DETAILS
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Olympic Football
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Attendance: 85,137
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DT92 Members at this game: (you can click here to load your profile picture) |
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Sidseagull
92 |
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gashead eric
91 |
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Two goals in three minutes gave Team GB a 3-1 win over UAE and put Stuart Pearce's men within touching distance of the quarte- finals.
The hosts were struggling, having surrendered their first-half lead, but strikes from Scott Sinclair, with his first touch, and Daniel Sturridge gave them a deserved victory and sent UAE home.
A draw against Uruguay on Wednesday at the Millennium Stadium will be enough to put Britain through to the quarter finals in their first Olympic competition since 1972.
Changes
Pearce made three changes, including the introduction of Aaron Ramsey, which brought the Welsh contingent to five.
More importantly, it provided an extra man in midfield, which allowed GB to exert far more control than they had in their opener against Senegal.
But as against Senegal, GB's opener was crafted in the Valleys.
This time, after Ryan Giggs had fed Tom Cleverley and continued motoring into the box, the roles were reversed as Craig Bellamy provided the cross and the veteran Manchester United man rose unopposed to nod home.
UAE were a sporadic threat and if Neil Taylor had not intercepted an Ahmed Khalil pass, they would have had two men clean through midway through the first half.
But GB were creating most of the chances, and were disappointed not to be further ahead at the break.
Ali Khaseif denied Bellamy and then saved his side when some quick thinking by Ramsey presented Cleverley with a chance inside the six-yard box.
Cleverley then managed to strike both posts after meeting a Bellamy cut-back with a precise first-time finish.
It was the kind of fluency Stuart Pearce had promised would eventually come to the squad once they were given a chance to get to know each other. The side are relative strangers compared to almost all the teams in the tournament.
The introduction of Sturridge almost paid immediate dividends, as he was set up by Ramsey, only for Khaseif to block his angled shot.
The Chelsea striker failed to take another opportunity before GB were hit by a sucker punch on the hour as Rashed Eisa took advantage of a fantastic defence-splitting pass from Omar Abdulrahman. Eisa raced onto it and gleefully beat Jack Butland.
The goal turned what should have been a routine win into a nervy search for salvation, as a side which seemingly offered no threat, were suddenly looking dangerous with every attack.
Pearce then took a calculated risk, replacing captain Giggs with Scott Sinclair.
Masterstroke
And it turned out to be a masterstroke.
With his first touch, Sinclair was on hand to tap home as a Bellamy cross created panic in the UAE box, Khaseif succeeding only in pushing it straight to the Swansea man, who tapped into an empty net.
Three minutes later, GB sealed their win as Sturridge charged through, then beat Khaseif with an impudent chip from the edge of the area.
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Conway5
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astonp
56 |
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awjoufc
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Giggs 16, Sinclair 73, Sturridge 76: Eisa 60
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Elliot
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roachmeister
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PaulW
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alanchapman
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Match no. 1084. Olympic Games 1st Round Group A. Second game of double-header. The rare sight of a team representing Great Britain due to the fear amongst the home nations that FIFA would use any such occurence to remove their independent status. Consequently GB had not competed in the Olympic finals since 1960, having failed to qualify in 1964, 1968 and 1972 and not entering a team after that. On this occasion they were allowed to enter as host nation, although the Scottish FA refused to have anything to do with it. The GB squad therefore consisted entirely of players from England and Wales, no Northern Ireland players having been selected. The participating teams were U-23 but with three over-age players allowed per squad. There was a great atmosphere at Wembley for the GB game and their victory was well received. GB''s goals were scored by Ryan Giggs (16), Scott Sinclair (73) and Daniel Sturridge (76). Rashed Eisa scored for UAE (60). GB subsequently qualified as group winners but lost to South Korea on penalties in the quarter-finals.
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danny
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Match no 207. Olympic Games 1st Round Group A.
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