Sandy Thin

With just over a year until the Olympics arrive in London, the football associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not taken with the idea of joining forces with England to make a 'Team GB'. The British Olympic Association and the English FA have reached an agreement on the team and while it's not necessary for the BOA to have the support of each individual FA, the process would be made much easier with the willing participation of the Scots, Welsh and Irish.

Britain have not entered a team for the Olympics since 1972 but the fact that they are coming to London in 2012 puts pressure on Britain to enter every possible event to maximise chance of medals. The fans and FAs in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are generally opposed to the English FA running the team and the inevitable fact that, ignoring several notable exceptions, the vast majority of the squad would be made up of English players.

A factor that many journalists seem to be forgetting when putting forward their "Possible GB XIs" is that all bar three players in the squad must be Under 23 players. With no outstanding young British goalkeepers it is likely that one of the 'Overs' would be a keeper, most probably either Joe Hart or Craig Gordon, largely dependent on their performances next season. The remaining two 'Over' places are debatable, it is hard to predict with another season of football before the decision must be made but for the moment you would have to say that Rooney would be a safe bet, along with maybe a Charlie Adam or Ryan Giggs or if Northen Irish places were struggling to be filled, potentially Stven Davis or even Paddy McCourt.

As for the rest of the team; the defence is hard to call although Micah Richards, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are all fairly likely inclusions, possibly alongside Kyle Walker.  The midfield is slightly easier to predict as Gareth Bale and Jack Wilshere are both near certs for the team, with other spaces being taken by two out of Jordan Henderson, Aaron Ramsey, Jamie Forrest or Charlie Adam. Assuming that Rooney is included then he is likely to be alongside his England team-mate, Andy Carrol.

Even if all of these things fall into place for the BOA, Team GB will have a very tough time progressing very far in the tournament. Several players in the squad will have already played in the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine only the month before, straight after grueling club seasons without breaks and will inevitably be tired before the tournament even begins. They will also have to compete with what promise to be strong sides from Brazil, Spain and Argentina along with others. Brazil in particular will take the competition very seriously as it remains the only competition they are eligible for and have failed to win, despite entering strong sides in the last few games running up to 2012, their side will likely include great players such as Neymar and Pato.