Brazil -- the Olympic version -- is turning out to be all that one could hope for. At least at the sharp end of the team, which is where we expect true Brazilian soccer to flourish. Six goals in two games, all of them good goals, a couple of them exceptional.

A look at three recent episodes that starkly reveal the problems created by pre-judgment. Which is a fancy word for bias.

The Brits, evidently, are not greatly impressed with the idea of Olympic soccer. Last week the Olympic Games organizers announced that they were withdrawing 500,000 soccer tickets. Half a million tickets taken off the market -- because they're not selling in this soccer-devoted country. The move also involved a massive downsizing of the stadiums -- i.e. closing off whole tiers -- where soccer is to be played.

John Terry, who has captained England in the past, has now been found not guilty of racially abusing the Queens Park Rangers player Anton Ferdinand. Found not guilty, it needs stressing, by a court of criminal law ... by the full majesty of the English legal system, if you like.

I fear that the hyperactive MLS Disciplinary Committee may be heading for a fall. I would regret that, because its aims are obviously well-intentioned. But its methods and, in particular, its constant pronouncements are beginning to irritate.

I see that Real Salt Lake's Costa Rican Alvaro Saborio has just been voted MLS Player of the Week. I also note the announcement of the First XI for the MLS All-Stars, which does not include Saborio, which is no doubt justifiable. But the XI does not include any Hispanic players at all, which is an eye-opener.

As the blinding brilliance of Spain flashed out from the Ukraine on Sunday, it had one unfortunate consequence -- it cast into the shadows a slice of superb soccer that had occurred on Saturday evening, right here in the USA.

Not for a long time -- not since the days, going back three decades, when Brazil was at its best -- have we seen soccer presented in more glittering garb than the version presented by Spain in the Euro 2012 final.