LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) - Brazil's elite women players
will achieve something Pele, the greatest soccer player of all
time, never managed in his career when they play at Wembley
Stadium on Tuesday.
One of Pele's great regrets is that every time he had been
due to play under Wembley's old Twin Towers, fate intervened,
but the likes of Marta, Cristiane and Formiga will take the step
he never did when they meet Britain in the Olympics in their
final Group E match.
Coach Jorge Barcellos said his team was "very excited" about
the match which will decide who wins and who finishes second in
the group with both teams already qualified for the
quarter-finals.
Britain and Brazil both have six points from two wins, while
New Zealand and Cameroon are already eliminated after losing
both their opening games.
"They are not nervous, they are happy to be here, as am I
the coach. It is everyone's dream to play at Wembley, it is one
of the great stadiums of the world and it will be very special
for us as well.
"There will be a crowd of maybe 70,000 or 75,000 and it is
not every day women play in front of crowds like that. But we
are ready and we are fit, although I may make some changes to
the team for the match."
Barcellos, whose side beat Cameroon 5-0 in their opening
match and then needed a late goal from Cristiane to beat New
Zealand 1-0 in their next game, played down the prospect of
their gold medal hopes, even though they are among the
favourites to win the title for the first time.
"I am not thinking about that now," he said.
"I am just concentrating on the match against Britain. It is
almost the match that might be played in the semi-final or
final, but there are a lot of good teams still involved in the
competition.
"The United States, Britain, Japan, Sweden, France, even
North Korea - every team has its star players and it is going to
be very, very hard tomorrow."
He also laughed off a suggestion that Brazil's women could
embarrass their male counterparts if they won their gold and the
likes of Neymar, Oscar and Sandro failed to win theirs for the
first time.
"I am not thinking about that either. We are both backed by
the same FA - and we want to take home two golds," he smiled.
(Editing by Ossian Shine)