Neymar dreams of ending Brazil's hunger for gold at London 2012

Golden shot: Neymar has thrilled for Brazil and will be key to their bid for gold
Sam Green11 April 2012

Brazil forward Neymar is excited about playing at ­London 2012 and stressed how important it is that his country are finally crowned Olympic football champions.

Claiming the only international football title Brazil have not won has become a national obsession for the five-time World Cup winners, especially as Argentina took gold in 2004 and 2008.

Such enthusiasm is stark in contrast to Europe, and Britain in particular, where Olympic football is often viewed as lacking in credibility.

Yesterday, David Moyes made it clear how he viewed the ­status of the competition. Normally, players are given time off to recover after international tournaments but the Everton manager insisted that would not be the case for any of his men in Team GB.

The football competition is one of the few events at London 2012 which has failed to capture the public's imagination with only a third of the 2.5million seats sold.

Part of the problem is that Britain have not entered a team since 1960 because the football associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland fear their independent status within FIFA would be threatened. An assurance from the governing body that the FAs are safe has paved the way for Britain to play for their first football title since 1912.

Neymar is expected to be Brazil's key player in the 2014 World Cup on home soil but, for now, he has the Olympics on his mind.

"This is a dream of mine," said the 19-year-old. "I am waiting to play in London and looking forward to it. ­Brazil have never won the gold and this is a chance for us to bring it back. It's very important to everyone here."

While Neymar will follow Brazilian greats Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Bebeto, Roberto Carlos and Rivaldo in playing at the Olympics, he is keen to play against an English icon this summer.

"It would be a pleasure to play against David Beckham," said Neymar, who turned down Chelsea and Real Madrid last year to sign a £550,000-per-month contract with Santos.

"Fortunately I had the chance to meet him last year [at a MLS game in New York], he was very kind and it would be an honour to play on the same pitch as him this year in London."

Beckham is likely to captain Britain as one of the three players aged over 23 allowed in an Olympic side.

Stuart Pearce will not select any of England's Euro 2012 squad but the Olympics could see Wales' Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey or Scots Charlie Adam and Darren Fletcher appear in an international tournament.

They would be in good company. Previous Games have featured Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Xavi - the top three in the 2011 Fifa Ballon d'Or - plus Jurgen Klinsmann, Fabio Cannavaro, Samuel Eto'o, Patrick Vieira and Carlos Tevez.

Olympic football is hugely important in South America, Africa and Asia and Neymar's manager at Santos, Muricy Ramalho, believes he has a reason for Europe not sharing that attitude.

"People in Europe do not think Olympic football is important because it is less crucial for them to develop young players," he said. "If you take a top ­English team, they will have just a few English players. Because European teams can buy so many players from outside, young players are not so important. In Brazil, we need to develop our youngsters and this is why the Olympic team is more important for us."

Ramalho will not try to stop Neymar from playing in London despite the Olympics taking place during their domestic season. He said: "I won't exactly be happy but if Brazil need him, Santos will let him go."

Ramalho turned down the Brazil job in 2010 but will be a strong favourite to lead them into the next World Cup should the under-pressure Mano ­Menezes lose his job.

"It's very important for Brazil to win gold in London because it's part of our preparation for the World Cup," ­Ramalho said. "All Brazil expect us to win the World Cup and the Olympics will be a very important step ­towards this."

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