Sweden ended a disconsolate Marta’s dreams of guiding Brazil’s women to a first Olympic football gold medal Tuesday with a 4-3 penalty shoot-out win to set up a final with Germany on Friday.
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Both teams had successful first kicks, followed by misses on their second penalty shots.
Just a few minutes later, Brazil’s Marta almost scored off a corner kick, but the ball was deflected by a Swedish defender out of play.
But it was Sweden who came closest in the extra 30 minutes when captain Lotta Schelin headed inches wide from a corner and then shot into the side-netting at the end of a sweeping counter-attack.
Brazil came into the 2016 Olympics as gold medal favorites, but struggled out of the gates as the team played to two scoreless draws in its first two matches.
Even with her skills, major success however, eluded the Brazilian women’s team.
Lindahl, who plays for Chelsea in England, has been named Swedish goalkeeper of the year five different times. But she has never won a major worldwide tournament with her country.
Unlike against the Australians, Marta converted from the spot, but then saw her ambition of capping a glorious career by finally winning a major global title devastated.
“This loss won’t take away from all that we have done to get here”, Marta said. “We improved match by match”. “We have to pick up the pieces to try to win this medal”. With the U.S. team it was attacking football.
Solo castigated Sweden as “cowards” for their defensive display in the last eight, but that seemed to only strengthen the resolve of Sundhage’s women as they barely threatened the Brazilian goal.
“This is wonderful. It is the first time for Germany to reach the final and I am very proud about our performance”, Germany coach Silvia Neid said. The Olympic tournament was held in numerous same stadiums in the Brazil that were used in the 2014 men’s World Cup, including the Amazonia Arena in Manaus.
Both Andressa and Cristiane missed penalties for Brazil as the shootout finished 4-3.
Solo criticized Sweden’s game plan in her postgame comments, saying “They didn’t want to open play”. Marta and Beatriz scored two goals each in that first match.
When she finally rose, she and Sweden coach Pia Sundhage shared a warm embrace. “We’ve got to just put our best out there and if we do, I think we can do it – bring that medal home”. “We don’t make a big thing of it, we talk about football”.
Rio de Janeiro, August 17: Brazilian striker Marta, generally considered the greatest women’s footballer of all time, wanted nothing more than to win an Olympic gold medal in front of a home crowd at the Maracana stadium to cap her career.
Melanie Behringer’s 20th minute penalty and Sara Daebritz’s goal on the hour mark ensured a comfortable victory for the German women.
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Canada, which won bronze four years ago, was the only team from the medal round at the 2012 London Games to return to the semifinals in Brazil.
