Team GB 0 Brazil 2: Pearce's youngsters outclassed as Neymar and Sandro light up the Riverside

Posted Saturday, July 21, 2012 by Dailymail

It was the first glimpse of a Great Britain Olympic football team for more than 50 years, but most eyes were on the boys from Brazil at the Riverside Stadium.

If the pre-Olympic friendly was, in some ways, a throwback to the days when Brian Clough was banging the goals in down the road at Ayresome Park, the accent was just as much on the future, as Brazil paraded some of the household names of tomorrow.

Team GB 0 Brazil 2: Pearce's youngsters outclassed as Neymar and Sandro light up the Riverside
Spot on: Neymar doubled Brazil's lead from the spot halfway through the first half

Team GB 0 Brazil 2: Pearce's youngsters outclassed as Neymar and Sandro light up the Riverside
Predictably, they were too good for Stuart Pearce’s side, as Sandro and Neymar gave Brazil a 2-0 first-half lead and the latter player, in particular, began to exhibit the full range of his extravagant skills in the second period.

There were some encouraging moments for Pearce, as Joe Allen shone in midfield and Micah Richards went close with an early header. The most encouraging point of all, though, may just be the realisation that his side will meet few, if any, better sides than Brazil when the tournament itself begins.

Seldom can a pre-season friendly have generated such interest, with the first appearance of a GB Olympic football team since 1960 being beamed live across the nation by the BBC and a 20,000-plus crowd packed into a stadium bathed in late-evening sunshine.

It is unlikely too many have boasted such an expensive array of talent, either, with the market value of the Brazil team alone conservatively estimated at above £300million.

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