"Olympic football squads are comprised of players under the age of 23, with three over-aged players allowed.

Brazil's squad could include players such as Neymar and Alexandre Pato, with the likes of Ronaldinho and David Luiz available as overage players, although Robinho and Kaka have been left off the initial squad longlist.

The squad will be trimmed to 35 players on June 8, with the final 18-player squad revealed on July 6."

The preliminary/longlist squad:

<Adriano (Barcelona), Alex Sandro (Porto), Alexandre Pato (Milan), Allan (Vasco), Andre (Atletico Mineiro), Bernard (Atletico Mineiro), Bruno Uvini (Tottenham), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Danilo (Porto), David Luiz (Chelsea), Dede (Vasco), Diego Alves (Valencia), Douglas Costa (Shaktar Donetsk), Dudu (Dynamo Kiev), Elias (Sporting), Elkeson (Botafogo), Fagner (Vasco), Fernandinho (Shaktar Donetsk), Fernando (Gremio), Gabriel (Cruzeiro), Gabriel Silva (Novara), Galhardo (Flamengo), Paulo Henrique Ganso (Santos), Giuliano (Dnipro), Henrique (Granada), Hernanes (Lazio), Hulk (Porto), Jefferson (Botafogo), Jonas (Valencia), Juan (Internazionale), Julio Cesar (Internazionale), Leandro Damiao (Internacional), Lucas (Sao Paulo), Lucas Mendes (Coritiba), Luisao (Benfica), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Marquinhos (Corinthians), Neto (Fiorentina), Neymar (Santos), Oscar (Internacional), Philippe Coutinho (Espanyol), Rafael (Manchester United), Rafael Cabral (Santos), Renan Ribeiro (Atletico Mineiro), Romario (Internacional), Romulo (Vasco), Ronaldinho Gaucho (Flamengo), Sandro (Tottenham), Thiago Silva (Milan), Wellington Nem (Fluminense), Willian Jose (Sao Paulo).>

Spain vs Italy will be good. I favor Spain 2-0, although I get the feeling that their strikers aren't very strong. Llorente is in good form, but Torres has been abysmal and Pedro didn't necessarily shine last season. Too bad David Villa didn't recover soon enough.

<Jim Bartle> I am afraid you are right about the strikers situation on the spanish team,but often some magic happens when a player puts on his national shirt..

Pedro is my best shot,but I have great confidence in the judgement of Del Bosque ;)

Anyway I have only eyes for Jesús Navas, the Sevilla jewel, but I'm afraid he won't play today, maybe a few minutes at the end.

<Spain-Italy 2-0> Italy has always been our "bestia negra", so I'm not so optimistic. They know well how to play important games, you know what I mean...

<Jim><...that's not a terribly reliable group of strikers> I'm sure Spain will play with just one forward, so no matter if you have a good bunch of attack midfielders. On the contrary I think defense is the weaker part of the team. Puyol is very important and we'll miss him.

Talking about yesterday Portugal had bad luck, they didn't deserve to lose and could draw till the very end. And how good Nani is! I like this player a lot.

Thank you !

I am afraid you are right about <Puyol> and sorry for forgetting Negredo,but I am afraid that Del Bosque will prefer Torres (and that Fenando still is a way from his old form),but some answers will show up in a short time.At least my wife and I will cheer for the spanish team.

50 minutes to kickoff,while Nadal is completely crushing Djokovic.A good sign !? :)

Sorry! I didn't see the full squad until this morning. I only knew that Torres had been called, even though he went unnoticed in Chelsea this season. I also think that Soldado would have been a much better choice, but maybe Del Bosque feels that a transfer that cost £50 million is just too hard to ignore.

0-0 at halftime. While Italy have had the best chances, Spain have more possession, although not overwhelmingly so. I'm still waiting for the Barsa-like dominance Spain showed in (most of the games of) the 2010 World Cup.

He was too busy scoring a hat-trick against Brazil yesterday. The third goal was a gem.

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And you could be right.