The 2016 Olympic Games don’t officially begin until the opening ceremony on Friday night but the Mens Football tournament gets underway before then when the first round of group matches are held on Thursday evening. Here is our preview of the tournament.
Recent Gold Medallists
2012 – Mexico
2008 – Argentina
2004 – Argentina
2000 – Cameroon
1996 – Nigeria
The Rules
Each nation has named a squad of 18 players for the tournament. The tournament is for played aged 23 and under although each squad is allowed to name up to three players over that age.
The Stars
All eyes will be on one man who is expected to light up this tournament and that is Brazil’s poster boy Neymar. This will be the first tournament he has played in his home country since the World Cup which ended with him on a stretcher and he will have unfinished business to attend to.
Other big names in the tournament include the German duo of Sven and Lars Bender, new Man City signing Gabriel Jesus, Teo Gutierrez, John Obi Mikel, Oribe Peralta, Son Heung-min and Angel Correa.
The Format
16 teams have made it into the tournament through various means of qualification and they have now been put into four groups of four. Each side plays the other three in its group once with the top two at the end of that going into the quarter finals. The tournament becomes a straight knockout from there.
If knockout matches finish level then extra time and penalties will be played to determine the winner. In extra time a fourth substitution will be allowed to be used as a trial for this tournament.
Group A
Tournament hosts Brazil are in this group. They are paired with South Africa, Iraq and Denmark in what should surely be a cakewalk of a group for them. The race for second in behind them could be interesting. Denmark qualified by making the semi-finals of the European Under 21 Championship last season and with their senior side not making it to France this summer they could be stronger than usual.
Group B
This looks a really tasty group. It is headed by Colombia and contains the European Under 21 champions Sweden and Africa’s finest Nigeria. Japan are meant to be making up the numbers but having been semi-finalists in London four years ago they might be the toughest of the pot 4 sides to face.
Group C
Germany head the seedings in this group and they are joined by the defending champions Mexico and the bronze medal winners from London in South Korea in what looks a three way shootout for the knockout stages. Fiji make up the numbers here and could be doing literally just that.
Group D
This might prove to be the toughest group of the lot. Argentina have competed in this tournament twice, in 2004 and 2008, and have waltzed away with the title on both occasions while Portugal, runners up in the Under 21 event last summer, will be inspired by the senior team winning the European Championship. Honduras and Algeria will be looking for some major scalps.
Betting
This is one of the strongest Olympic tournaments I can remember. When you think how strong it is and remember we have no Spain, Holland, Great Britain, Chile or France and Italy here you get the feeling just how tough this is this year.
With Groups A and B being paired against each other in the quarter finals and C and D likewise there is a real tournament in a tournament in that second half of the draw. In Groups C and D the likes of Argentina, Portugal, Germany, Mexico and South Korea are all potential winners of this event yet only two of them are going to make the semi-finals. Which two is the guess of just about anyone.
In order to try and get a team as far as possible in our outright bet I’m going to target the first two groups. Brazil are the odds on favourites to win the tournament but you only need to look at Great Britain four years ago to see that home advantage is no guarantee of anything. They never even medalled in 2012 and no host has won this tournament since 1992.
Although they should go well their senior side never coped with the expectation too well two years ago so I can’t be getting involved in them. Instead I will give Nigeria a go at a much bigger price.
Nigeria have a decent record in this tournament. Since 1996 their record reads winners, quarter finalists, did not enter, runners-up and did not enter so whenever they have come into the tournament they have come out of the group and medalled twice in the last five Olympics.
The fact they have tempted John Obi Mikel to appear when he has a new manager to impress back at Chelsea says to me they might be taking this tournament a bit seriously and indeed their record in it suggests they do that when they make it here. Some nations might not be so keen so the Africans could be one up on some before a ball is kicked. With their history in the Games they are worth a small punt at 25/1.
Tips
Back Nigeria to win Gold Medal (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Ladbrokes (1/3 1-2)
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016
