Great Britain’s men followed the women into the Olympic football quarter-finals yesterday as Daniel Sturridge netted the only goal against Uruguay at the Millennium Stadium.
And Stuart Pearce’s men admirably opted not to follow the lead of those discredited badminton players by trying to engineer a result that would keep them out of Brazil’s way until the final.
Instead, should they come through a last-eight meeting with South Korea in Cardiff on Saturday evening, they will face the hot favourites at Old Trafford next Tuesday.
Had Gaston Ramirez’s injury-time effort not rattled the bar, they would have avoided that fate.
It is a shame too, because with Spain already out and Uruguay making their exit in typically bad-tempered fashion, GB would otherwise be a strong contender to reach the final at Wembley on August 11.
Earlier in the day, Brazil saw Porto star Alex Sandro sent off but still overpowered New Zealand 3-0 at St James’ Park to ease into the quarter-finals.
By the time he was dismissed for a second bookable offence, after a yellow card for diving following one for an earlier foul, Internacional striker Leandro Damiao had sent the South Americans on their way into the knockout stages.
The 23-year-old set up midfielder Danilo for the opener and then claimed his second goal of the tournament before the break, with Tottenham’s Sandro to seal a victory which will see his side return to St James’ on Saturday to play Honduras.
Medals table
| Country | G | S | B | Tot. |
| China | 17 | 9 | 4 | 30 |
| United States | 12 | 8 | 9 | 29 |
| South Korea | 6 | 2 | 4 | 12 |
| France | 5 | 3 | 5 | 13 |
| North Korea | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Germany | 3 | 8 | 2 | 13 |
| Italy | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| Kazakhstan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Japan | 2 | 4 | 11 | 17 |
| Russia | 2 | 4 | 5 | 11 |
| Great Britain | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| Hungary | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Ukraine | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| South Africa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Australia | 1 | 6 | 2 | 9 |
| Romania | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Brazil | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Georgia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Lithuania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Slovenia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Venezuela | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Colombia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Cuba | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Mexico | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Canada | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Indonesia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Norway | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Denmark | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Egypt | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Spain | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Poland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sweden | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Thailand | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Taipei | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| New Zealand | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Slovakia | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Azerbaijan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Belgium | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Belarus | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Greece | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| India | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Moldova | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mongolia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Qatar | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Singapore | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Serbia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Uzbekistan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Today’s finals
Archery: Women’s individual.
Artistic Gymnastics: Women’s individual all-around.
Canoe: C2 men, K1 women.
Fencing: Women’s team foil.
Judo: 100kg men, 78kg women.
Rowing: Men’s double sculls, lightweight men’s four, women’s eight.
Shooting: Men’s double trap, Rapid fire pistol 25m.
Swimming: 200m breast women, 200m back men, 200m IM men, 100m freestyle women.
Table Tennis: Men’s singles.
Track Cycling: Women’s team sprint, men’s team sprint.
Results
Basketball (women)
Canada vs France 60-64; China vs Angola 76-52; Australia vs Brazil 67-61; Great Britain vs Russia 61-67; Croatia vs Czech Republic 70-89.
Fencing
Women’s sabre final: 1. Kim Jiyeon (KOR); 2. Sofya Velikaya (Russia); 3. Olga Kharlan (Ukraine).
Men individual epee final: 1. Ruben Limardo (VEN); 2. Bartosz Piasecki (NOR); 3. Jung Jinsun (KOR).
Football (men)
Group A: Senegal vs UAE 1-1; Great Britain vs Uruguay 1-0.
Standings: Great Britain 7; Senegal 5; Uruguay 3; UAE 1.
Group B: Mexico vs Switzerland 1-0; S. Korea vs Gabon 0-0.
Standings: Mexico 7; S. Korea 5; Gabon 2; Switzerland 1.
Group C: Brazil vs New Zealand 3-0; Egypt vs Belarus 3-1.
Standings: Brazil 9; Egypt 4; Belarus 3; New Zealand 1.
Group D: Japan vs Honduras 0-0; Spain vs Morocco 0-0.
Standings: Japan 7; Honduras 5; Morocco 2; Spain 1.
Quarter-final pairings: Japan vs Egypt; Brazil vs Honduras; Great Britain vs S. Korea; Mexico vs Senegal.
Gymnastics
Men’s individual all-round final: 1. Kohei Uchimura (JPN); 2. Marcel Nguyen (GER) 3. Danell Leyva (USA).
Waterpolo (women)
Hungary vs China 11-10; Italy vs Russia 4-7; Great Britain vs Australia 3-16.