2012 London Olympics: A preview of the beautiful game

The official logo of the 2012 Summer Olympics to be held in London.

The Olympics are back in a football nation. Expect a lot more stress on the game than some of the other traditional Olympic sports such as sprinting or swimming. I am not complaining. It will be wonderful to watch the matches as well as the other sports taking place in well known British stadiums. Five stadiums are to be used for the preliminary matches - St. James' Park in Newcastle, Old Trafford in Manchester, Hampden Park in Glasgow, Millenium Stadium in Cardiff and Coventry City Stadium in Coventry. The final will be held in the 90,000 capacity Wembley stadium in London, home of the English national team.

Cardiff's Millenium stadium will be one of the six stadiums hosting the football tournament.

Holders Argentina will not have the chance to defend their title due to their failure to qualify for the event. Having beaten Nigeria in the final of the previous Olympics held in Beijing, Argentina must be distraught at missing out at this opportunity. However their South American arch rivals, Brazil, will be playing and understandably as  favorites. Consisting of great young talents such as Neymar, Ganso, Moura and Oscar along with a few established players, they look like a well balanced attacking side. Their recent 2-0 friendly victory over Great Britain would have only raised their confidence further. Brazil's group consists of Egypt, Belarus and New Zealand. It  might seem like an easy group but in the Olympics you never know. Egypt could prove to be a tough cookie. Having said that, the Selecao should still make it through the group with ease.

Alexandre Pato and Neymar, two of Brazil's most important players.

Reigning World cup and European champions Spain is pitted against the likes of Japan, Honduras and Morocco. Despite the absence of key players from the Euros, Spain still look impressive. Jordi Alba, Juan Mata and Javier Martinez are the only call ups from the Euro squad. Mata and Martinez will be looking to prove a point after being left on the bench for much the Euros. Alba, however played every game and will be eager to impress further. He scored in the Euro final against Italy and a good run in the Olympics would help him secure a  starting place in his new club Barcelona. Other players to watch out for will be Manchester United keeper David De Gea and Chelsea midfielder Oriol Romeu.

Juan Mata, one of the established players in the Spain team.

Group B consists of Mexico, South Korea, Gabon and Switzerland. With no clear favorites, this group could provide the fans with a bit of entertainment and well contested matches. Notable players from Mexico will include Carlos Salcido and Giovanni Dos Santos, once a promising young talent. Having won the recent U-23 tournament, this Mexican team will look to capitalize on it by providing a decent show at the Olympics. The Koreans are regular fixtures in the Olympic games and could provide the Mexicans with a challenge. Gabon are a relatively unknown entity in football but so were Senegal in the 2002 world cup and we all know what happened then.

Players from the Gabon national team.

Finally we get to the group of the hosts and perhaps the group of death. The hosts Great Britain will be accompanied by Senegal, UAE and Uruguay. I live in the UAE and to watch them playing on a world stage will be incredible. Of late, UAE has been playing astonishingly well, beating Hungary 5-0 and New Zealand 4-2. They will be going into the tournament with a lot of confidence. Uruguay will be fielding one of the strongest strike partnerships with Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani. Both of them have impressed with their respective clubs, Liverpool and Napoli. It'll be interesting to see whether they can coordinate to help their team progress in the competition. Speaking of strike partnerships, Ba and Cisse won't be featuring for Senegal but the Africans are still a decent side that can provide a challenge for the world's best teams.

Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani for Uruguay.

Great Britain, managed by Stuart Pearce, will be featuring a host of promising players. One of them is Chelsea man Daniel Sturridge. Having been left out of the England squad for the Euros, he will have a point to prove in a bid to stake a claim in England's side as well as Chelsea. Other promising players are Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal, Ryan Bertrand of Chelsea, Danny Rose of Tottenham, Tom Cleverly of Utd, Scott Sinclair of Swansea and Adam Johnson of Man City. The three senior players will include Welshmen Giggs and Bellamy, and Micah Richards. It came as a surprise to many that Beckham was left out. Having lost his place in the English team, this would have been the ideal tournament for him. Gareth Bale was another surprising exclusion.

Stuart Pearce will be taking charge of the Great Britain team.

Not as exciting as the world cup or the Euros, the Olympics should nevertheless be an exciting competition to watch. It is known to produce great players of the future and there is plenty of scope for that this time around. The first round of fixture commences on the 26th of July with UAE facing off against Uruguay and the hosts entertaining Senegal later on to kick off group A. The football filled summer continues.