Olympic fever is well and truly here, there may be complaints over tickets, corporations and other little gripes, but for lovers of sport at least, the positives surely outweigh the negatives for London 2012. On Sunday I had my one opportunity to see the games up close and personal, and aptly enough that included Team GB at Wembley Stadium.
After spending the previous day zigzagging across England, east to west and then back again, I was pleasantly surprised at the ease in which I managed to get to Wembley Park underground station. From there the walk up Wembley Way would have made the most dour of faces smile, as huge crowds of fans were interspersed with the equally enthusiastic police and the stand-out uniforms of the Olympic volunteers.
At the stadium I met Dave (our deputy editor at 90minutes), and upon entry we had to stick all of our pocket contents into clear plastic bags, before a swift pat down by security. Even so, like the transport, getting into Wembley was far far easier than the cautionary advice had led us to believe.
The atmosphere was pretty carnival, and it felt like most people were enjoying the uniqueness of the occasion (as well as building up to Team GB). The first match involved their Group A opponents Senegal and Uruguay, and it made for an entertaining and unexpected result.
The early exchanges were as expected until the ninth minute, when a Senegalese corner was met by Cheikhou Kouyaté, and the resulting save landed at the feet of Moussa Konaté who gleefully tapped it in. The next twenty minutes saw Konaté almost score a second, and then Uruguay's Gastón Ramírez hit the post with a great free-kick.
Moments later Senegal were seemingly hit by a catastrophic decision. Luis Suárez, who was mercilessly booed from the stands throughout the match, burst through the left side of the Senegal defence. After breaking through he was cynically brought down by Abdoulaye Ba, who received a straight red card.
The commentators may have felt otherwise, but the referee was extremely harsh. Even though Suárez had been fouled and was clear, Senegal still had two covering defenders, one of which was the actual last man- Ba should have been shown the yellow.
However, Senegal not only recovered- they went on to prosper. Soon afterwards they hooked the ball off of their own line to deny the equaliser, and then in the 36th minute another corner from Senegal found Konaté, and his header angled past Martín Campaña to make it 2-0.
Senegal survived more chances going against them in the remainder of the first half and during the second, but as time edged onwards Senegal looked more comfortable and Uruguay seemed increasingly resigned to their fate. It stayed and ended 2-0.
There then came an hour long gap until the main event of Team GB vs UAE, and the plan was for a snack. Unfortunately we came into that bracket of people who had assumed card machines would be available, only for VISA to have a failure, and it turns out that Wembley have removed their 'holes in the wall' due to some vandalism a while back!
Anyway, come Team GB and everything was rosy again. The Welsh players once more decided against singing the national anthem, a decision that seems more than perfectly reasonable in the context- why could no 'neutral' anthem have been chosen for this unusual set-up? Failing that, certain tabloids could at least stop trying to stir up a controversy that doesn't exist in rational minds.
When the game got started, the UAE (like they had against Uruguay in their previous match) were composed and confident in possession, they also posed a threat with their pace when breaking forward. However, after fifteen minutes Ryan Giggs proved his worth with a superb goal. Craig Bellamy was again an inspiration, and here he took a pass out on the left flank before floating an accurate cross to the far post- where his fellow Welshman nodded home for 1-0.
It should have been 2 on the verge of half-time, but Tom Cleverley was tremendously unlucky. More good work from Bellamy saw him pull the ball back to ten yards in front of the UAE goal- and Cleverley's shot hit the right hand post before bouncing along the line, hitting the left hand post and then finally being cleared.
The second half saw UAE continue to probe Team GB's defence, and on the hour mark they easily bypassed Micah Richards and co. to make it 1-1. UAE's most striking player, Omar Abdulrahman, slid a great through-ball into the feet of Rashid Essa. He surged ahead of all those around him, and was on top of Jack Butland and his six-yard area all too easily before side-footing in.
Butland made up for the goal when he then kept out Ahmad Khalil at point-blank range. Nail-biting was to be avoided though, as Team GB responded in the best possible fashion after Stuart Pearce replaced Giggs with Swansea's Scott Sinclair.
Bellamy again provided the cross, this time from the right, the goalkeeper fumbled into the path of Sinclair who couldn't fail to score with his first touch. Five minutes later and it was game over, a tired pass from UAE found Cleverley and he slotted the ball between two defenders for Daniel Sturridge. The Chelsea man (much to the delight of Dave) then chipped a lovely finish over the goalie from the edge of the area and into the opposite corner.
So, 3-1 the final score, and Team GB sit poised at the top of their group before tonight's encounter with Uruguay. A draw will be enough for the quarter-finals, and if they continue to gel they may even be able to grab a bronze medal- but don't expect more than that for now. Regardless of what happens, Sunday was an enjoyable and memorable experience, I only hope that the Mexican Wave is less prevalent in future.