Brazil’s Olympic football dream. With five World Cups and eight Copa Americas to their name Brazil are among the most decorated national teams in football, but there is one prize that has continued to elude them over the years.\u00a0While most neutral sports fans will focus their attention on other events when the Olympics in Rio\u00a0de Janeiro get under way this week, the Brazilian people are desperate for their country to claim its\u00a0first ever gold medal in the men\u2019s football tournament.<\/p>\n
The Selecao have come very close on three occasions, finishing as runners-up in 1984, 1988 and\u00a02012, while they also won bronze at the Games in Atlanta in 1996 and Beijing in 2008. The title has\u00a0eluded them, though, and the strength of the squad they have selected for this month\u2019s tournament\u00a0\u2013 which begins on Thursday when Iraq take on Denmark in Group A \u2013 is evidence of how seriously\u00a0they are taking it: Barcelona forward Neymar missed the Copa America Centenario in order to take\u00a0part in the Olympics, with Paris Saint-Germain defender Marquinhos and Lazio forward Felipe\u00a0Anderson joining him in Brazil\u2019s 18-man squad.<\/p>\n
There are other reasons why the hosts are so keen to make an impact on the competition besides\u00a0the desire to scratch their Olympic Gold itch. Two years have now passed but the pain of Brazil\u2019s\u00a0failure on home soil at the World Cup in 2014 has not yet subsided, with Germany\u2019s 7-1 destruction\u00a0of Luiz Felipe Scolari\u2019s side in the semi-finals a defeat that will live long in the memory. Success this\u00a0summer would not even come close to making up for that historic loss, but it would at least allow\u00a0Brazilian fans to celebrate a tournament victory in their own country for the first time since their\u00a0Copa America triumph in 1989.<\/p>\n
The aforementioned Centenario edition of South America\u2019s leading competition \u2013 which was held in\u00a0the United States and featured six CONCACAF teams this year \u2013 was one to forget for Brazil, who will\u00a0be fully aware that the only way they can put it behind them is by taking gold. Manager Dunga was\u00a0dismissed after the Brazilians failed to make it out of a group containing Ecuador, Peru and Haiti;\u00a0Corinthians boss Tite was named as his replacement in June, and although he will not take charge at\u00a0the Olympics Brazil\u2019s participating players will be aiming to impress the senior team\u2019s latest coach\u00a0ahead of the resumption of World Cup qualification in September.<\/p>\n
When all of the above factors are considered together, it is not difficult to see why Brazil \u2013 with the\u00a0strongest squad, home advantage and the biggest motivation \u2013 are widely considered overwhelming\u00a0favourites to win the men\u2019s football tournament this month. The Selecao failed to cope with the\u00a0pressure in the World Cup two years ago, however, and should not take anything for granted when\u00a0they kick-start their campaign against South Africa in Brasilia on Thursday. The nation\u2019s first ever\u00a0gold medal in this competition is in their sights but Brazil still have everything to lose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brazil’s Olympic football dream. With five World Cups and eight Copa Americas to their name Brazil are among the most decorated national teams in football, but there is one prize that has continued to elude them over the years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[643],"tags":[174,177],"class_list":["post-10319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","tag-news","tag-ticker"],"yoast_head":"\n