Britain Advances on Home Turf - Wall Street Journal (blog)

By Jonathan Clegg

At this point, perhaps Great Britain should consider giving up on the World Cup and learn to embrace Olympic soccer instead.

With a 1-0 win over Uruguay at the Millennium Stadium on Wednesday, Britain advanced to the quarterfinals of the men's soccer tournament, sending home the strongly tipped South Americans and establishing the host nation as a genuine threat in an event it hasn't entered in five decades.

Daniel Sturridge scored the decisive goal in the 44th minute after Joe Allen played a give-and-go with Scott Sinclair before rolling the ball across the face of the goal, where Sturridge forced it over the line from two yards.

The win meant Great Britain finished top of Group A ahead of Senegal, which also advanced after a 1-1 draw with United Arab Emirates. Uruguay, one of the pre-tournament favorites, failed to progress from the group stage.

"We're delighted to get out of this group," Stuart Pearce, the Great Britain head coach, said. "Looking back, it was a very, very tough group but I think we deserved to win it over the three matches. I think the team has grown stronger and stronger as the tournament has progressed."

The result sends Great Britain into a quarterfinal against South Korea Saturday. More importantly, it may come to be seen as the moment when a skeptical nation finally warmed to the idea of soccer at the Summer Games.

Britain hasn't sent a team to the Olympics since 1960, largely due to the fact that the four nations that make up the U.K. compete individually in international soccer, but also because many European countries regard Olympic soccer, with its age restrictions and inconventient timing during the professional offseason, as an oddball event and international irrelevance.

The Netherlands won bronze on its first three appearances, but didn't qualify from 1952 until 2008. Italy's sole Olympic title came back in 1936, while Germany hasn't qualified since its bronze medal at the 1988 Games.

But as the final whistle here was greeted by a roar of approval from a sellout crowd of 70,438 at the Millennium Stadium, it was impossible to ignore a growing enthusiasm for Britain's Olympic soccer experiment.

"If we wind the clock back three or four weeks, people told me there would be a negative response [from the crowd] here in Cardiff," said Pearce. "Today has been fantastic for Great Britain. The crowd was magnificent."

In contrast with the inept displays usually associated with British teams in international soccer, Great Britain looked mostly comfortable here, controlling the ball for 63% of the game and creating the better chances.

Even when Uruguay piled forward in search of an equalizer late on, the British stuck to their short-passing, possession-oriented approach rather than resorting to the time-honored British tactic of deploying all 10 outfield players on the edge of their own penalty area at the first sign of pressure.

"Some of the passing, especially in first half,was outstanding, bearing in mind Uruguay was one of the favorites to win this tournament," Pearce said.

Having entered the tournament with low expectations, the British team incresingly has the look of a medal contender. Should Great Britain beat South Korea to reach the semifinals, it would have two opportunities to earn a medal, since the losing semifinalists will play off for the bronze medal.

Brazil remains the favorite for gold after crusing into the quarterfinals with a 3-0 rout of New Zealand. Danilo, Leandro Damiao and Sandro scored for the Brazilians in a stellar display in Newcastle, England. "It was a good performance," said Mano Menezes, the Brazil coach. "We were fluent and had very good control of the ball. But a gold medal is still a long way away."

Brazil faces Honduras in the quarterfinals, while Senegal takes on Mexico. Japan and Egypt are pitted against each other in the final matchup of the knockout round