After only 15 seconds, Neymar pounced, scoring the fastest goal in Olympic history, and football’s legendary samba sound went loud.
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Skipper Neymar led Brazil from the front and nearly single handedly took the hosts to the final of the mens football in the Rio Olympics.
Honduras’ Alberth Elis and Brazil’s Rodrigo Caio, right, fight for the ball during a semifinal match of the men’s Olympic football tournament between Brazil and Honduras at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro Wednesday Aug. 1.
Brazil were due to play the victor of Wednesday’s other semifinal between Nigeria and Germany in Sunday’s final at the Maracana Stadium.
Speaking after the triumph, Brazil Olympics coach Rogerio Micale described Neymar as a “monster” and said that Brazil were trying to understand how he became like that. With Neymar on the field this time, everyone is hoping for a different outcome Saturday when the same two nations meet at the Maracana. This Brazilian, Neymar Fastest Goal in the Semi-Final made Brazil to enter the Gold Medal Match.
“I think we have had a good campaign so far and now in the final stretch we are playing good football, the football we wanted to show, the attractive game”.
Gabriel Jesus put his own bad start to the Olympics behind him with two smartly-taken goals after 25 and 34 minutes, each time slicing the Honduras apart with exciting dashes in from the left.
Suffering because no one could forget the 7-1 humiliation on home soil by Germany in the 2014 World Cup semi-finals.
That six-goal mauling left a huge scar on Brazil’s footballing psyche and as the chants showed, fans in the host nation are desperate to get revenge if not on the full German side, then at least on a German side.
Fittingly, in their best performance of the tournament, Luan converted a fine team goal for Brazil s fifth as Gabriel Barbosa slipped in Felipe Anderson to cross low to the far post.
Brazil vs. Germany in the Olympic final isn’t just about World Cup revenge.
But, Neymar awkwardly fell on the play and the football superstar was taken off on a stretcher. But the team picked up the pace and will face Germany, which beat Nigeria 2-0 in the other semifinal.
Said Brazil’s Gabriel Jesus, after the team’s semi-final win over Honduras: “This is what we wanted”.
Despite taking on Neymar and Co, Hrubesch also insisted his team would stick to its style, saying: “We are not going to change anything”.
“We have experienced players who will help them”.
Brazil had made three previous finals (1984, 1988 and 2012) in the men’s competition but lost all three. “We know that if we keep playing well back there and don’t concede any goals, the attack will guarantee us the victories”.
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Brazil started the day 16th in the medal standings, with only three golds in the first 11 days.
