Brazil – Egypt 26.07.2012

After beating Great Britain 2-0 in the final warm-up game, Brazil start their campaign by taking on Egypt, a team that are likely to fight Belarus and New Zealand for the second place in the group.

Given that Brazil have yet to win an Olympic gold, it is not that surprising that national team manager Mano Menezes has paid so much attention to this competition. He has spent a lot of time with his Olympic squad and even opted to select the same players for senior team friendlies, using five games in May and June to properly prepare the side for the 2012 Olympics. As a result, the Seleccao now look like the most serious candidates for the title, and they are hot favourites to win this game. Having added over-age players Thiago Silva, Hulk and Marcelo to youngsters Neymar, Ganso, Sandro and Pato, Mano Menezes now has a star-studded side at his disposal and plenty of options in all areas of the team.
First choice keeper Gabriel Cabral has been ruled out through injury, while Ganso, Lucas Moura and Alexandre Pato will have to settle for a place on the bench.

Not so long ago, Egypt were the rulers of Africa and showing plenty of potential against top European sides, but the Pharaohs have seen a major downtrend in fortunes over the last few years. The Under-23 side, nonetheless, took advantage of somewhat easy qualifying group to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, but this team don’t look good enough to make it to the final stages. Over-age players Ahmed Fathi, Mohamed Aboutrika and Emad Motaeb have added much needed quality and experience to the side, but with little support from other players in the team, they cannot do much on their own. Therefore, a defeat to mighty Brazil look on the cards.

I believe that Egipad in this game has nothing to look but on the other side Brazil will give the best for the Olympic tournament go with a bigger self-confidence and so here we can expect a minimum of three goals in the victory of course of Brazil.