GREAT BRITAIN coach Stuart Pearce felt his side's 1-0 Millennium Stadium victory against Uruguay capped a golden day for British sport.
The host nation won their first gold medals of the Games with Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins triumphed in the men's time trial and rowers Helen Glover and Heather Stanning came out on top in the women's pair final.
Pearce's side ensured the "feelgood factor" continued as Daniel Sturridge's first-half strike had GB top Group A and set-up a quarter-final meeting with South Korea in Cardiff on Saturday evening.
The boss said: "Today has been fantastic with Wiggins winning gold and that spreads right across Great Britain, it brings a feelgood factor to the Olympics and we are glad to have played our part this evening and got the result to get out of the group."
Pearce praised the support of the 64,000-strong crowd in Cardiff. There had been fears the national anthem would not be well received in Cardiff, but there were no dissenting voices as God Save the Queen was delivered with gusto.
Pearce said: "If we wind the clock back three or four weeks people were saying we would get a negative reaction in Cardiff but we have not seen any of that."
His side have shown steady signs of improvement as the tournament has progressed, and they continued to do so.
Pearce added: "I thought all 18 of the players were fantastic, and it excites me to stay in the competition to play at least one more game with them."