Brazilian forward Neymar will appear in the Olympic

Brazilian forward Neymar will be appearing in Rio de Janeiro in all of their Olympic football group matches at the city’s very own Games in August.

Brazilian forward Neymar will appear in the Olympic

Brazil have never been able to win Olympic gold and football, usually a sideshow at the Games, and will turn out to be massive mainstream this time around.

The draw, at Maracana, had placed the hosts in first round Group A along with the countries like South Africa, Iraq and Denmark and they will be the favourites to top the mini league and then progress to the knockout stage via Brasilia again and Salvador.

Finally then, in the semi-finals, would Brazil come to Rio itself . . . with the holy grail beckoning, again at Maracana, in the golden medal final on August 20.

Only if Brazil defeat in the semi-finals could they return, for the bronze medal match, to Belo Horizonte, scene of their agonizing World Cup humiliation in 2014.

Germany, seeking to emulate their seniors’ victory in Brazil at the World Cup two years ago, are in Group C in a tournament swansong for their reputed veteran coach, Horst Hrubesch. Seeking to spoil the occasions for him will be Fiji, South Korea and the Olympic champions Mexico.

Four years ago El Tri defeated Brazil, surprisingly, by 2-1 result in the Olympic final at Wembley.