There seems to be a clash of values when members of the GB football team play poker after arriving at the Olympic Village and one, Danny Rose of Tottenham Hotspur, tweets about making £700 in just a few quick hands.

The general response online was one of indignation, and the tweets were soon deleted, but football still does not seem a natural fit with the founding ethos of the Games, the English Premier League having become associated with vast wages and brazen spending.

The GB team, at least the male version, have made an awkward entry into the London Games, with the Scottish and Northern Irish Football Associations making it clear they did not want their players to compete.

The final squad contains only English and Welsh players, but the tournament itself should not be measured against this rare involvement of a GB team (it is their first appearance since 1960). Countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Italy and France have all competed regularly at the Olympics, using the competition – which is now restricted to players aged under 23, with three over-age exceptions – to showcase developing talents.

Brazil are managed by Mano Menezes, who is also in charge of the senior side, and many of the players he has selected will form the basis of the team he leads into the 2014 World Cup his nation will host. That is if he survives the tournament.

Brazil have never won Olympic gold, but a squad that contains the likes of Neymar, Pato, Hulk, Thiago Silva, Rafael, Sandro and Oscar, the Internacional midfielder who is on the verge of joining Chelsea in a £25 million deal, should be leading contenders.

They certainly look better equipped than Stuart Pearce's GB squad, although Spain have included the likes of Juan Mata, David de Gea and Jordi Alba. They will also be among the four male teams playing fixtures at Hampden, along with Honduras, Morocco and Japan.

It is the women's tournament that has the honour of being the event to start the Olympics, with Hope Powell's GB side facing New Zealand at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Wednesday. The US are the favourites, but Powell is an accomplished manager and there is a sense of the team, and the women's game in general, taking the opportunity to enhance its growing reputation.

There will certainly be as much support for the GB women's team as for the men's, with 23,000 tickets sold and a crowd of more than 40,000 expected for their opening group game.

"For this generation of players coming through, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and hopefully that will inspire females to get involved in the game," Powell said.

"As Team GB we want to do well, but we also recognise the role we're playing. It's an Olympic stage, the first time women's football has been at the Olympics as GB, and we want to set a legacy. It gives us an opportunity to showcase the women's game in this country and hopefully that will prove beneficial."