Ryan Giggs calls for more after early setback

p62 main edition 27/7 epa03318909 Great Britain's Craig Bellamy (L) scores the opening goal in the match between Great Britain and Senegal in the London 2012 Olympic Games Soccer tournament, Manchester, Britain, 26 July 2012. EPA/Robin Parker

EPA/Robin Parker

Ian Herbert

27 July 2012

Ryan Giggs insists Great Britain must improve on their 1-1 draw against Senegal if they are to stand any chance of progressing from their group.

Britain looked to be heading for victory at Old Trafford last night before Moussa Konate struck eight minutes from time to cancel out Craig Bellamy’s first-half opener.

Giggs, the captain of the team, says his side must raise their performance level for Sunday’s clash with UAE, who were beaten 2-1 by Uruguay in their opening clash after they had taken the lead.

“We are going to have to win one of the next two games,” said the Manchester United player.

“For confidence, more than anything else, a win on Sunday will obviously set us up going into the Uruguay game. We are going to have to improve to get through the group.”

Bellamy tweaked his medial ligament in one of many dubious challenges from the visitors, while fellow Welshman Joe Allen will also be assessed today after taking a knock, but the Liverpool striker expects to be fit to face UAE.

With Stuart Pearce’s side using their rest day to travel to the Olympic Village today, Bellamy will miss tonight’s opening ceremony as he seeks maximum recovery time. “I have to realise that we are only two weeks into pre-season,” Bellamy said. “I think you could see in the last 20 minutes that it caught up with us. We will get fitter as this tournament goes on.”

Pearce will have noted that UAE were undaunted by the prospect of playing in front of 70,000 at Old Trafford yesterday.

Uruguay’s Luis Suarez was booed in the game, which preceded Britain’s first Olympic match since 1960, but Bellamy experienced a rare Old Trafford standing ovation as he left the field. It demonstrated that his unquestionable work ethic matters far more to supporters than his unwillingness to sing the national anthem.

The ovation was “very rare,” Bellamy said. “I was expecting what Luis [Suarez] got, so I was sort of prepared. I was grateful that Luis was playing first. But this is the Theatre of Dreams. It’s a truly remarkable place to play football.”

Pearce yesterday addressed for the first time the issue of Gareth Bale playing — and scoring — on Tottenham’s United States tour, despite having been declared unavailable for the Olympics because of a back injury. “I’m only interested in the 18 [players] I’ve got here,” he said. “Obviously I’m delighted Gareth’s injury has mended itself quicker than I expected it would.”

The manager, who said his players must “move the ball a bit better and quicker” on Sunday, offered a veiled defence of his decision not to include David Beckham in his squad, when he pointed to Giggs and Bellamy’s crucial importance for Sunday.

“Those two individuals are crucial to this group — not only on the pitch. I always thought that was the case with the overage players.”

BRAZIL coach Mano Menezes praised the performance of Chelsea’s new £25million midfielder Oscar in his side’s 3-2 win over Egypt at the Millennium Stadium.

Menezes said: “It is clear that Oscar is a very influential player. He set up a lot of moves and chances for us and I don’t want to publicise it too much as our opposition will know about him.”

Brazil led 3-0 at half-time after goals from Rafael da Silva, Leandro Damiao and Neymar.

Ryan Giggs calls for more after early setback

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