Their clash is the opening game of the women's tournament, but British coach Hope Powell, who is in charge of the English women's national team, has selected 16 Englishwomen and two Scots in her squad.

Despite the absence of any home grown stars in the team to promote the city and Wales, there is still plenty to shout about insists the head of public relations for Cardiff and Co, an organisation that promotes the city.

"From a personal perspective it is a big disappointment that there are no Welsh players," Ed Townsend told insidethegames at a press conference here at the London Media Centre today.

"But selection is a matter for the team managers.

"This is an Olympic Games, a Great Britain playing on behalf of the whole of the United Kingdom.

"We want to see the best team of the field.

"If the best team does not include Welsh players that is a disappointment internally.

"Let's see the best team out there and win the tournament."

Townsend is in London promoting Cardiff, which is one of five cities outside of London staging football matches this summer.

Cardiff is playing host to Britain's second game against Cameroon as well, while the men will come to the Millennium Stadium for their final group fixture, an eagerly awaited match with Uruguay.

Karen Carney of Team GB in action during a friendly match against Sweden

With the men's third place play off and quarter finals in both tournaments, Cardiff is perhaps best placed along with Manchester of all the cities outside of London to promote themselves during the Games.

Townsend believes that the city could benefit from this, arguing that it is the ideal major events city.

"If you are looking to design a city with major events in mind it would probably look a bit like Cardiff," he said.

"It has a good size stadium, a direct mainline railway link there itself.

"The city centre is accessible to the stadium.

"And it is flat, you do not have to walk around hills!

"It is also a city with its own cultural identity, the capital of Wales.

"We cannot wait to welcome the world to our city in two days time," Townsend concluded.

Cardiff has previously hosted a major sports event, the Empire Games, the precursor to the Commonwealth Games, though that was back in 1958.

Last year, the Welsh capital was linked to staging the Commonwealth Games again, with talks reported to have taken place on submitting a future bid.

Cardiff also staged the final of the Rugby World Cup in 1999, and has held several FA Cup finals previously.

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