By Magdalena
Stanislav
LONDON
(TheSportsNext) July 30, 2012: Great Britain gave their London2012 soccer qualification
chances a great boost on Sunday when they outplayed United Arab Emirates by
three goals to nil at the packed Wembley Stadium here.
There were no empty stands at the Wembley Stadium as the
soccer-loving British youth filled it with enthusiasm where Ryan Giggs, who
represents Manchester United in the English Premier League, scored the first
goal at the London2012 and with it achieved another historic level in his international
soccer career.
Ryan Giggs, who at 38 years and 243 days, is the oldest soccer
player in the history of London 2012 Olympic Games, also achieved the honor to become the
oldest goal-scorer at the Olympics when his early goal gave home fans the
reason to berserk in 16th minute.
Later on, substitutes Daniel Sturridge and Scott Sinclair
also added goals to Great Britain’s tally as they looked good enough to beat
UAE goalkeeper Ali Khaseif consistently despite of a strong show by him in
front of the nets.
Interestingly, this was Great Britain’s first soccer victory
at the London 2012 Olympics since September 1960 when they had defeated Taiwan by 3-2 at
the Rome Games.
United Arab Emirates made a promising comeback in the 69th
minute when Rashed Eisa scored the goal but the home team scored twice in the
space of four minutes to seal the encounter as Scott Sinclair helped Great
Britain regain the advantage in 70th minute before Daniel Sturridge made
it 3-1 in the 74th minute.
With this victory, the Great Britain are now on top of the Group
A with four points and lead Senegal on only goal difference. Earlier, Senegal stunned
Uruguay by two goals to nil at the Wembley Stadium.
Great Britain coach Stuart Pearce told reporters after the
emphatic victory, "We certainly made hard work for ourselves but all
credit to the UAE. The two substitutes had a real impact and we had some really
good performances from the likes of Craig Bellamy and Joe Allen."
When asked about the impact of Ryan Giggs, Stuart Pearce
said, "Ryan brings respect. That's a word that's used cheaply nowadays but
the way he handles himself on and off the pitch is outstanding and we are
delighted he got a goal this evening."
The Great Britain now look strong enough to qualify for the
quarter-finals of the London2012 and their only chance of getting eliminated is
if Uruguay beat them in Cardiff next Wednesday.
If Great Britain do manage to qualify into the
quarter-finals stage, it would be first time in 52 years that they will achieve
the feat.
Another interesting stat about the Sunday’s match was the
crowd presence. Amid all the complaints regarding empty stands in other sports
in the London 2012, a total of 85,137 fans were there at the Wembley Stadium to
support the national team, which is the biggest-ever crowd to watch a Great
Britain Olympic soccer match.
When asked about his fantastic goal, Scott Sturridge told
reporters, "It was a fantastic ball from Tom Cleverley. I took it across
the keeper and just looked for a cheeky chip and it worked out for me."
The Great Britain had to content with a 1-1 draw against
Senegal in their first match of the London 2012 News for soccer tournament last Thursday at
Old Trafford.
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