No pressure on Team GB to select Beckham, says Coe

David Beckham

David Beckham will have to earn his place in Britain's Olympic soccer squad on skill and merit like any other player and can expect no special favours, London 2012 organisers said on Thursday.

Speaking before the 37-year-old former England captain teamed up with a London delegation for the formal handing over of the Olympic flame, LOCOG chairman Seb Coe said there would be no attempt to twist the arm of Team GB manager Stuart Pearce.

"We have put absolutely no pressure on Stuart Pearce at all," he told reporters, a day after England manager Roy Hodgson named his provisional squad for the European championships in Poland and Ukraine next month.

"Stuart has to pick the team that he thinks will lift that (Olympic) trophy. I wouldn't expect any coach to be operating on any other basis, whether its wrestling or Olympic football," added Coe.

"You can never put pressure on coaches to choose people for any particular reason other than skill and merit."

No longer a part of England's international set-up and living in Los Angeles, Beckham has said repeatedly that he wants to play for the first United British soccer team to compete at the Olympics since 1960.

The London-born LA Galaxy player's presence in Athens and increasing involvement in the build-up to the Games has added to speculation he will be selected.

Pearce, also a former England international whose playing career overlapped with Beckham, can choose three 'over-age' players in what is otherwise an under-23 squad and now has a clear picture of who is available.

 

VALUE ADDED

"Of course having David around the Olympic programme is a fantastic thing but that is not for anyone other than Stuart to decide whether actually that brings 'value added' to the team," said Coe.

Hugh Robertson, the sports and Olympics minister who is also in Athens for the flame handover along with Britain's Princess Anne and London Mayor Boris Johnson, endorsed Coe's words.

"You can't have, in that highly competitive environment, a sentimental moment and pick somebody because it would be nice for the front page of the newspapers," he said.

"It is just not the way this process works any more. It would be lovely, yes, to see Beckham at the Olympics but he has to be there on the merits of his own performance and nothing else."

The announcement that Beckham, a global brand ambassador for Torch relay sponsor Samsung, would join the delegation in Athens and fly back with the flame on Friday was a main talking point on Wednesday.

There were some who questioned whether it was right to give such prominence to an athlete who has no Olympic pedigree and whose star quality and glamour as a sporting pin-up could overshadow others, but Coe dismissed that.

"David has been with us from the beginning," he said.

"He was there when the evaluation team came through London, he has hosted people on the Olympic Park for us, even before (the winning bid was announced in) Singapore he was travelling independently for us and helping us get some of the core messages across.

"It is absolutely right that he should be with us. As he so elegantly put it in Singapore, it (London) is his 'hood'.

"It would be ridiculous not to use someone who has been intimately involved with the whole process and actually rings up on a regular basis to ask if there's anything else he needs to know or can do to help us," said Coe. 

Late Senegal equaliser denies Britain victory

 Hosts Britain were denied victory on their return to the Olympic Games after a 52-year absence when they were held to a 1-1 draw by debutants Senegal in their opening Group A match at Old Trafford on Thursday.

Britain looked to be heading for victory after Welsh veteran Craig Bellamy, at 33 one of their over-age players, lashed home after 20 minutes.
 
But Senegal, who rallied strongly after the break, equalised in the 82nd minute when Moussa Konate timed his run perfectly to stay onside and clip the ball past goalkeeper Jack Butland.

Britain almost stole all three points in the 88th minute when Aaron Ramsey set up substitute Marvin Sordell but he shot against the bar.

The men's soccer competition is contested by Under-23 teams who are allowed to field three players over that age, but Britain has been absent since the Rome Games of 1960 because of political differences involving Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland regarding their own independence within FIFA.

But all that was forgotten as a near capacity crowd of 72,476 enjoyed a memorable night which began with Uruguay beating the United Arab Emirates 2-1 in the group opener.

They were also close to witnessing a British win, but were denied the chance despite an excellent performance from Britain's other Welsh veteran, skipper Ryan Giggs.

OLDEST PLAYER

At 38 years and eight months old, and playing on his home Manchester United ground, Giggs became the oldest outfield soccer player ever to appear in the Olympic finals.

Giggs also had a hand in Bellamy's goal as the Senegal defence failed to clear his free-kick. The ball fell to Bellamy who scored with a fierce volley into the ground that flew up past goalkeeper Ousmane Mane.

Britain, playing only their second match together since the Olympics squad was announced, seemed far more settled from the start than they were at any time during last week's warm-up against Brazil in Middlesbrough which they lost 2-0.

However, they lacked bite in the second half and that was always inviting danger against Senegal, who qualified for their first Olympics after beating Oman 2-0 in a playoff at Coventry in April and had certainly not come to make up the numbers.

Senegal's tall, physically strong and hard-running side -- typified by captain Mohamed Diame who has just moved from Wigan Athletic to West Ham United in the Premier League -- deserved a point from a well-contested game.

But they also wasted a golden chance to equalise soon after Bellamy's goal when Sadio Mane dinked the ball wide after Butland made a rare mistake and hit a weak clearance straight to him.

Britain next face the United Arab Emirates while Uruguay play Senegal in another double-header at Wembley on Sunday.