Olympics v World Cup

Has anyone ever seen the football at any Olympic Games or World Cups? If you've been lucky enough to experience both - how did they compare as spectacles?

On the (unlikely) off-chance that there'll be tickets left for this summer's GB v Uruguay fixture in Cardiff, I'm mulling over whether I should try and get hold of a pair.

I've not been to a WC but saw a preliminary game (Australia lost to Italy 1-0) and the final of Olympic football in 2000 (won by Cameroon over Spain). Olympic football is mainly u23, so it is not the same quality as the WC. That desn't mean it is rubbish - Eto and Geremi played for Cameroon and the Spanish team included Xavi, Puyol and seveal other later WC winners. But there is a buzz about the Olympics which is pretty amazing. My sons went to Germany in 2006 and said the atmosphere was similar. So overall probably hard to pick! I count myself lucky to have seen the Olympics and regret not going to Germany in 1974 with my football mates to see Australia's first WC - my sons showed a lot more commitment the next time we qualified. If you have the chance of either, grab it.

Thanks for that Rob, very interesting. If I can get hold of a ticket I will go to the football - I won't see anything else at the Olympics other than the cycling road races probably.

My brother lucked out and went to the USA '94 World Cup with a mate of his from Texas. He since married a Japanese girl and found himself in Sapporo during the 2002 tournament - the stadium with that floating pitch that came into the stadium and rotated into place. Very weird. I think he saw England beat Argentina with that Beckham penalty - jammy git!

>3 Polaris-: - Very jammy! That England-Argentina game was so amazing. That's actually one of my favorite World Cups for overall enjoyment.