While Dahlkvist was on for the penalty kick, she just pretended all those Brazilians were cheering for her team, and then she stepped up and nailed down her penalty kick to eliminate Brazil and proceed to the Olympic soccer final.
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Dubbed “Pele in skirts”, Marta scored seven goals at the 2007 World Cup in China, but Brazil finished as runners-up in the tournament after falling to Germany 2-0 in the final. Brazil beat Australia in a controversial penalty shootout that sent Brazil to the semi-finals.
The Brazilian forward Marta Vieira da Silva and her teammates have captured hearts as they’ve traveled across the country on the way to a semifinal match against Sweden.
“Sweden stayed back and played defence with all 11 players in the back”, Barbara said.
Goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl made the difference for Sweden as she saved penalty kicks from Cristiane and Andressa to secure the victory.
The gamble backfired, though, as she couldn’t add to the 14 goals she has scored across four Games from the spot. On that note, so do I. Marta displayed her full arsenal of tight control and dribbling skills in her efforts to unlock the Swedish defense. However, the way the Swedes have played is nothing to reproach in anyway.
“I’m delighted that Pia has put her faith in me, and that confidence is crucial to our tactic of inviting opposing sides on and then hitting them on the counter-attack”, explained Lindahl. She found out in Rio that it’s a little harder to win an Olympic medal when “bizarre” officiating doesn’t bail you out.
Marta inspired the 5-1 group stage thrashing of Sweden with two goals, but despite their dominance the ball would not go in for the hosts as Marta, Beatriz and Debinha all came close. “That’s a compliment to her”, Solo told The Associated Press during the Olympics. With a gold medal from a pretty shady tournament in London, she really has nothing to be sour about – in fact, Solo might even have hardware she doesn’t deserve, kind of like Kobe Bryant and the 2002 Los Angeles Lakers. Undefeated Canada was taking on a weakened German side, hoping to move on to the gold medal match. I don’t think the Swedes can abandon what has got them to the final.
Brazil can still end the long wait for a first Olympic gold medal in football at their home Games as their men remain in the competition and face Honduras in the semi-finals Wednesday. It can’t be that the losers of the games feel as though they were robbed by calls, at least not if the winners want the genuine recognition as the world’s best.
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Marta, who has played her club football in Sweden for the past four years, was consoled by Swedish players, whilst the huge Maracana crowd gave their defeated team a huge ovation.
