LONDON: Brazil have hit a snag before even launching their campaign to win Olympic football gold for the first time with the ruling out of first-choice goalkeeper Rafael Cabral writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Rafael, 22, injured his right elbow in training at Arsenal’s London Colney training centre on Monday when he collided with a dummy defensive wall.

Team doctor Jose Luis Runco said: “When we examined the injury he was in pain and had little movement. For the position he plays, as a goalkeeper, and the fact that during the Olympics we have only 18 players and two goalkeepers, we had no other solution.”

The Santos keeper, who is seen as Brazil’s long-term No1, was  the only capped goalkeeper in the squad. Fiorentina reserve Neto now steps up with Milan’s 20-year-old new signing Gabriel called into the squad as cover.

Renan Ribeiro, 22, of Atletico Mineiro,  arrives in London on Wednesday to join the squad as stand-by goalkeeper.

Brazil open up against Egypt at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on July 26.

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