The ’96 squad was made up of more skillful and experienced players which includes the likes of Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Okocha, Daniel Amokachi, Emmanuel Amuneke, Sunday Oliseh, Victor Ikpeba, Garba Lawal, Wilson Oruma, Tijani Babangida, Uche Okechukwu, Taribo West, Celestine Babayaro and others.
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This is a country where even dogs wear Neymar jerseys, where one need not watch a game on TV to know when Brazil scores because the collective fan roar and auto horn honking serves as play-by-play. Neymar chased down a block-footed Honduran defender who needed about five touches on the ball before feeling comfortable enough to pass it, deflected the ensuing pass at the top of the Honduras keeper’s penalty area, and managed to bang both his body and the ball off the onrushing goalie in a way that saw the ball trickle over the goal line.
“We are playing against a team with the same coach for three years”.
“We are a team that is good going forward and we are going to play exactly the same way”. When the Man City new footballer finished his second goal in 9 minutes, the suspend of the match had been terminated.
None of the players that will be on the field in the gold medal match played in the 2014 World Cup semifinal, including Neymar who was out with an injury.
“It was wonderful to just arrive in the stadium and watch a handsome goal”, said Filipe Deliza, a 19 year-old law student from Rio.
That much was apparent right after Brazil’s first tally, when fans, clearly pulling for Germany in its semifinal match against Nigeria later in the day, began chanting, “Hey Germany, just wait!”
It took just 15 seconds for the weight of a nation to be lifted from the shoulders of Brazilian soccer superstar Neymar and his Olympic teammates Wednesday afternoon. Considering that the Europeans had shocked their old rivals 7-1 in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the rematch of the semi-final two years ago is attracting the expectations from all over the world.
The Nigerians, who posed an intermittent threat to Germany’s gold medal hopes throughout the 90 minutes, had been the non-Brazilian story of the tournament prior to Wednesday.
The Germans really pushed for a second on either side of halftime. It wasn’t just a mere personal or professional loss, but utter humiliation on the national stage.
“What counts is this game, the Olympic final”, he said.
Brazil coach Rogerio Micale dismissed any talk of revenge over Germany for his nation when they meet in the final of the men’s Olympic football.
“But every match is a different story and the next one we have to be strong but we are developing and growing and this is an important time for Brazil”, he emphasised. “We will give our best to win the gold”.
Brazil had earlier whitewashed Honduras by 6 goals to nil with Neymar and Gabriel Jesus scoring a brace each while Luan and Marquinhos also registered their names on the score sheet.
Brazil started the day 16th in the medal standings, with only three golds in the first 11 days.
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This is the third straight Olympics in which Brazil has brought some of its best players looking for gold. This is the first time for women’s golf to be in the Olympics since the Paris Games in 1900, and back then it was only a nine-hole competition.
