For the first time since 1972 England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will compete under one flag in a football tournament at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Although there are no Northern Irish or Scottish players in the final squad, it is still expected that the people of all four nations will rally around the team and that the squad will bring home Olympic gold in this truly special one of event. However, there are few easy matches in football and Stuart Pearce’s boys will have a mountain to climb when they take on the highly rated Brazil Olympic team today at Middlesborough’s Riverside Statium in their only warm up match ahead of their home Olympics.

As an East London resident and an Olympic Football ticket holder I’m excited to see how team GB will line up. Welsh nationals Craig Bellamy, Neil Taylor, Joe Allen, Aaron Ramsey and team captain Ryan Giggs are all new to international tournaments and will hope to impress in order to get a spot in the starting line up for the first Olympic group stage match against Senegal, in a tournament which may prove to be both their first and last.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Stuart Pearce has several hard decisions to make over who he selects:

In goal he could opt for rising talent Jack Butland who was a part of the  England squad for the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine or he could go for Jason Steele at his home ground. Personally I would choose Butland whose impressive performances between the sticks for Birmingham last season merited Roy Hodgson’s decision to call him up to the full squad.

With no obvious right back in the squad it looks like either Micah Richards or James Tomkins will slot in at full back. Richards first broke in to the Man City team when Stuart Pearce was manager at Eastlands and in choosing him as one of only three overage players it appears that ‘Psycho’ has faith in him. Tomkins solid performances in the Championship last season saw West Ham win the playoffs, earning promotion back to the top flight. I would choose Micah Richards at right back due to his pace and experience.

With, Champions League final starter, Ryan Bertrand undoubtedly down at left back the only other defensive selection Pearce will have to make is the cente back pairing. If Richards is to play right back then it leaves Tomkins, Neil Taylor, Steven Caulker and Craig Dawson available for selection. Tomkins played in all but two of West Ham’s league matches last season but this was at Championship level. Craig Dawson has only played for West Brom eight times, the majority of his career appearances have been for Rochdale a long cry away from International standard. If it was up to me I’d pick Caulker and Taylor to play along side each other, just like they did last season at Swansea, I feel that it’s important for the centre backs to have a good relationship and understanding of the way each other plays.

Ryan Giggs has been made captain, guaranteeing a place in the starting line up for him. It will be interesting to see whether the 38 year old plays wide left or on the inside. If it was up to me I would choose to play him on the left of a midfield three to make sure that he is fit enough for each match. Along side the captain I would play Joe Allen, the Swansea midfielder is a perfect example of the model footballer in the present day, both off the pitch and on. Playing Allen encourages keeping possession of the ball, something England struggled with at the European Championships. And to complete a Welsh midfield three I would pick Aaron Ramsey, he hasn’t had the greatest of seasons but hopefully starting this friendly will give him the confidence he requires to re-find top form and allow the Wales captain to excel.

I would not risk playing Daniel Sturridge up front after his recent health scare, relating to contracting viral meningitis. The other out and out striker in the squad is little known Bolton player Marvin Sordell, Sordell has only played three times for the recently relegated club since joining them on the last day of the transfer window in January from Watford. However the twenty one year old may have a big part to play in the Olympics due to Sturridge’s illness so it may be a good idea to give him playing time in a friendly just in case Daniel Sturridge won’t make the games.

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