Team GB: Generally Boring?

After recovering from the excitement of Euro 2012 we've just managed to catch our breath here at Bar and In prior to the start of the new season, but before that we have yet another football tournament to endure, Team GB's Olympic campaign on home soil in the London 2012 Olympic games.

Having seen the torch parade pass through Leicestershire and seeing the vast gathering of patriots filling my tiny village it really gives a sense of what it means to hold these famous games in our country's capital. Sadly the excitement didn't seem to transfer to Old Trafford for the opening match of Team GB's tournament as the atmosphere was flatter than an open can of coke in a hot car.

Thankfully without a vuvuzela in sight after the debacle of South Africa 2010, the gathering resembled an England International friendly with the flow of the game at 'friendly pace'. The Senegalese on paper looked a possible surprise package but missing many recognised regulars who had no doubt contracted Gareth Bale syndrome*.

The beauty of Gareth Bale syndrome* is that players who wouldn't usually feature in regular action at International level tend to get a run out and play a more pivotal role in the side. Young goalkeeper Jack Butland impressed many in the previous game against Brazil with Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge back in action after a recent bout of meningitis.

All was well early door's as Team GB pressed cautiously on the Senegalese back line with the ageing Ryan Gigg's pulling the strings in midfield alongside the energy of his club-mate Tom Cleverley. Senegal's robust back line was finally breached when the ball fell kindly for Craig Bellamy to finish on the half-volley to give GB their first goal since the 1960's in an Olympic tournament.

After a ripple of excitement the atmosphere returned to library-mode which seemed to suit the Senegalese as the white shirts poured forward in search of the equaliser, and they got it. Moussa Konate latching onto a through ball to chip over the onrushing Butland to...well......silence the crowd. GB pressed forward late on after having two decent shout's for penalties waved away but that elusive winner never arrived, a draw it finished.

Some encouraging sign's but in general very little to get excited about, the game had the feeling of a true 'prelude to the season' match without the excitement factor of a FIFA or UEFA competition, hopefully things liven up in the following game.

* When a player declares himself unavailable for selection due to injury or lack of fitness but is pictured shortly afterwards either a) playing for club or b) falling out of a nightclub