Olympic Soccer Scores 2012: How Far Can Great Britain Go in London Olympics?

Buoyed by the home crowd, Great Britain have progressed through to the quarterfinals of the men's football competition at the 2012 London Olympics.

Many thought they would be lucky to make it through the group stages, but after qualifying top of Group A and knockout out the dangerous South American country of Uruguay in the process, Team GB have shown that they are the real deal at London 2012.

The question is, how far can they go?

I mean, is it out of the equation to think that they can reach the gold medal match of the 2012 London Olympics or are even those expectations too lofty for Stuart Pearce's team?

Well, considering what we know about Great Britain and dwelling on what we have already witnessed in the Olympics so far, there are two main points that we must realize about their chances—the first being that anything can happen at these Olympic Games.

Spain were eliminated out of Group D—something that few would have seen coming. The fact they went out with a whimper, without a goal, without a win and on the bottom of a group that include Honduras and Morocco was simply unthinkable.

The same can be said for Uruguay, who also failed to progress through the group stage. They too failed to dispose of Senegal—who had just 10 men for over half the match—and could not take down Great Britain to qualify for the knockout stages.

Both nations entered the Olympics as genuine contenders to knock out Brazil and claim the gold medal; both nations will leave the Games far earlier than they were expected to do so.

Heck, even Great Britain weren't expected to offer much. 

I mean, if Craig Bellamy and the aging Ryan Giggs are the two men you have leading your squad, you surely can't be expected to produce anything spectacular, right? Especially not after failing to dispose of Senegal in the opening match.

Well, it would seem that those assumptions have been proven wrong as the Giggs-Bellamy-led Great Britain has stormed their way into the quarterfinals of the 2012 London Olympics. They've proven the doubters, the haters, the skeptics and the critics wrong, and they've done it by the results out on the pitch, in front of their home fans.

Which I guess brings us to the second point—this is a Great Britain team we weren't expecting. We weren't expecting Team GB to find their groove and topple Uruguay in a must-win match—not after they left David Beckham out of the tournament, anyway.

The matches that Brits are perennially known for losing, well, they're winning, and nobody quite knows what to expect next. Which means that in all likelihood, we could well see the hosts playing for gold at the 2012 London Olympics.

They take on Korea in the quarters—strong and competitive, but by no means stronger than a Uruguayan side boasting the likes of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani. Team GB have the momentum and the belief to topple the Asian nation and progress through to the semifinals.

It's there that they'll meet their biggest test of the tournament so far—Brazil.

Goalkeeper Jack Butland better have had a good night sleep because against the likes of Neymar, Hulk, Alexandre Pato, Leandro Damaio, Oscar and Lucas Moura, he's definitely going to have his work cut out for him.

Having said that, Brazil have conceded in all but one of their matches so far and almost blew a three goal lead against Egypt when it seemed they had the match in the bag. Their defense has looked suspect at times and could be open to some attacking play by the Brits.

And who knows, they might just throw caution to the wind and pull off one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history. They would then have to win the gold medal match, but after toppling Brazil, you'd have to suggest that they'd have all the belief and momentum in the world to carry them through to a prestigious victory.

Obviously, that's more speculation than anyone can handle for one article, but the fact remains that it is not out of the question for Great Britain to make some serious noise during the knockout stages of the 2012 London Olympics.

They've already succeeded expectations and they could just succeed them again.

Tell me I'm dreaming...do Great Britain stand any chance in the Olympics?

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