Euro 2020 semi-finalists, four RPL players and the Barcelona legend: what you need to know about the Tokyo Olympics football tournament

Group A: a chance for the hosts

Japan, France, Mexico and South Africa will play in Group A of the men's football tournament at the Olympics. Perhaps, it is in this quartet that the most exciting fight for two places in the playoffs lies ahead. With the exception of South Africa, whose players tested positive for coronavirus before the Games, all other teams have a good chance of continuing to fight.

This is partly due to the fact that no one has assembled a roster that would be significantly stronger than that of competitors. For example, in France, many clubs refused to release their players to the Olympics. This explains the rather unusual choice of three age players who do not have to comply with the age limit. Sylvain Ripoll took from the Mexican UANL world champion Florian Tauvin and André-Pierre Gignac, as well as Tagi Savagnier, better known for once he provoked the removal of Kilian Mbappé. There was no question of inviting any of the recent participants of Euro 2020, even young ones, to the tournament.

The Mexican national team regularly competes in the Olympics and even won in 2012, defeating Brazil with Neymar and Hulk in the final. But this time, the CONCACAF Gold Cup prevented the gathering of the optimal line-up, where the group stage will just end before the opening ceremony. Of course, all the best forces were thrown into this tournament. Most of the fans in the Olympic team will recognize only the goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa - one of the heroes of the 2014 World Cup.

The hosts of the Olympics will try to take advantage of the lack of competitors.

You can't find acting stars in their roster either, but still nine players playing in Europe will return to their homeland for such an important event for the country.

The help of two proven veterans - Hiroki Sakai and Maya Yoshida - will be very useful to Japanese youth.

Both played at the World Championships in Russia and at the 2012 Olympic Games, where they finished fourth.

Yoshida even made a mark at the 2008 Beijing Games, playing a match with the Netherlands (0: 1).

Group B: a quartet without stars

If at some tournaments there are "groups of death", then Quartet B at the upcoming Olympics may well be called a "group of life".

According to the results of the draw, South Korea, Honduras, New Zealand and Romania were in it - all those teams that were noticeably inferior in class to others in their baskets.

Only the Koreans stand out against the background of their rivals. They have invariably participated in the Olympics since 1988 and know not only how to leave the group, but also how to win medals - in 2012 they won bronze, even if they won only three matches out of six. Still, the current squad of the Asian team is hardly worth looking that far. There was a place in it only for two legionnaires - Bordeaux forward Hwang Uy Jo and up-and-coming Valencia teammate Denis Cheryshev Lee Kang-in. All other players, even the age ones, represent the South Korean championship. One of them, Park Ji Soo, plays for Kimcheon Sangmu, an army club where the players do military service.

The situation with the composition of Honduras is no better, which is also almost completely staffed by homegrown players, and only Douglas Martinez from Real Salt Lake is playing for a more or less famous club.

However, five years ago, Hondurans also could not boast of big names, but in the quarterfinals they knocked out the same South Korea and almost made a comeback in the match with Nigeria for the bronze (2: 3).

In New Zealand and Romania, they generally decided not to use the entire quota for age players and only three players over 24 years old were called up for two, and even those can hardly be called football stars.

Only the New Zealand forward "Burnley" Chris Wood stands out.

Group C: Spain on the road to gold

But the next quartet is the main favorite of the Olympics.

They can confidently be called Spain, which has assembled an incredibly powerful team.

Suffice it to say that her coach Luis de la Fuente called on six players who reached the semi-finals of Euro 2020 and became bronze medalists.

This is the main goalkeeper of the national team Unai Simon, the author of two assists in overtime of the match with Croatia, Dani Olmo, and striker Pedri, who played the entire tournament (he was replaced only once in the 119th minute of the meeting with Switzerland).

Pau Torres, Mikel Oyarzabal and Eric Garcia also played a significant role.

Moreover, they all belong to the category of young football players, to which three more adults could be added.

De la Fuente chose Arsenal midfielder Dani Ceballos, who missed Euro 2020 due to injury, Real Madrid winger Marc Asensio and Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino.

Everyone else has a rich experience for their age in the Example, and some won together at the European Youth Championship two years ago.

Such a Spain can hardly be prevented from winning the second Olympic gold in its history.

Argentina could have all the chances for this, which in the victorious America's Cup had nine players who were aged in the Olympic team.

However, none of them entered the application.

Head coach Fernando Batista did not even bring in any of the older outfield players, limiting himself to calling 28-year-old goalkeeper Jeremias Ledesma from Cadiz.

The most famous South American footballer remains to recognize Alexis McAllister, who played a season in the English Premier League for Brighton & Hove Albion. However, Russian fans can easily recognize in the Argentina national team the forward of Spartak Ezequiel Ponce and the army striker Adolfo Gaich, who will have to forget about the club feud for a while.

Although the Argentines themselves have missed a number of first-magnitude stars, they should still go to the playoffs without much difficulty.

The national teams of Australia and Egypt will also play in Group C.

In the first, although there are several players from the Premier League clubs, they have not yet received any practice at the highest level.

The latter have only one legionnaire playing in Saudi Arabia.

Among the Africans, only the goalkeeper Mohamed el-Shenawi stands out, who played at the World Cup in Russia and conceded three goals in the match with the hosts of the tournament.

Group D: new meeting of the finalists

The fourth group of the men's football tournament can rightfully be considered the most intriguing. It will host two finalists of the last Olympics - Brazil and Germany. At the same time, it will be premature to send both of them to the playoffs immediately. A very solid team was able to bring the national team of Cote d'Ivoire, and Saudi Arabia is still a big mystery.

The Brazilian squad can intrigue any football fan. For example, there was a place for Barcelona legend Dani Alves. The 38-year-old defender no longer plays for top European clubs and now represents São Paulo, but that was precisely what gave him the chance to go to the Olympics. Richarlison and Douglas Louis will come to Japan directly from the America's Cup, wishing to rehabilitate themselves for the defeat from Argentina. Among the older players, it is also worth noting the winner of the Europa League 2020 with Sevilla, Diego Carlos.

There are also several promising players in the South American camp who managed to make their mark in Europe. These include Mateus Cunho from Hertha, Bruno Guimaraes from Lyon, Gabriel Martinelli from Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund from Real Reiner. Finally, the Brazilian national team will also be of interest to Russian fans. For her will play Bruno Fuchs from CSKA and Malcolm from Zenit, whose team-mate can become Claudinho - the club from St. Petersburg has already negotiated with this midfielder.

Against the background of the Brazilians, the Germans are even slightly lost.

In their composition there are very few players who managed to loudly declare themselves.

These include the aged Max Kruse and Maximilian Arnold, who have experience playing for the main Bundestim, as well as the former teammate of Alexander Golovin in AS Monaco Benjamin Henriks, who won the 2017 Confederations Cup.

None of those who played at Euro 2020 this summer or won the youth championship of the continent were included in the team, and this could be a serious omission for Germany.

But despite the lack of high-profile names, this team has character.

When defender Yordan Torunariga was racially harassed in a friendly against Honduras on July 17, all teammates left the field in solidarity with him.

Fans should also take a closer look at the Ivory Coast national team.

Firstly, it will include Manchester United players Eric Bailly and Amad Diallo, Milan's second scorer of last season, Frank Kessier, and experienced Max Gradel, who once scored against the Russian national team in the first match, Fabio Capello.

Secondly, young African teams often shine at the Olympics and have won several medals in recent decades.

Saudi Arabia will be represented exclusively by homegrown players.

The most attentive fans will recognize in her only Yassir al-Shahrani, Salim al-Dawsari and Salman al-Faraj.

All of them were on the Luzhniki field when the Russian national team smashed them at the World Championships.