Although Germany doesn’t have a team in the men’s competition in China, some of the Bundesliga clubs don’t want their Brazilian stars to go.

Schalke refused to release defender Rafinha for the football tournament but he failed to show up for the club’s training camp and instead joined up with the Brazilian Olympic squad. Werder Bremen midfielder Diego wants to go to the Olympics but his club is expecting him to arrive for club training on Tuesday.

And it’s not just Brazilians.

Hertha Berlin won’t let striker Marko Pantelic play for Serbia, Hamburger SV doesn’t want to release of Belgium defender Vincent Kompany and Bayer Leverkusen has said no to Constant Djakpa of Ivory Coast.

On Monday, two weeks after Brazil announced its Olympic squad, Real Madrid reported that striker Robinho had picked up a groin injury and asked for his release from the trip to China. The club says it’s better for him to be spend his preseason in Spain rather than in China.

Three months ago, FIFA world player of the year Kaka said it would be a dream for him to help Brazil win the only title it has never captured — an Olympic gold medal. That was before AC Milan said it wouldn’t let him go. That impasse was headed off by Kaka discovering that he needed surgery on a knee injury.

Liverpool is unhappy to lose three players to the Olympics — Argentina’s Javier Mascherano, Dutch winger Ryan Babel and Brazilian midfielder Lucas — and manager Rafa Benitez fears that Babel may aggravate an ankle injury that ruled him out of last month’s European Championship.

“We are really worried because after getting him fit it is likely that we could lose him again if he is selected for the Olympics,” Benitez said. “This is a big problem — we prepare him and then he goes away with the national team.”

The squads have been announced and the players are preparing for China.

Robinho may well have a groin injury. Watch out for a few more to crop up in the next week or so.

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