He said that he will step down as the captain of the Brazil national team.
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Although the Olympic tournament features under-23 teams, Brazil believe their win can signal a new beginning for the country’s soccer which has been bedeviled by chaotic administration at home and poor results at senior level.
Brazil’s Neymar, center, Gabriel Jesus, second from left, Gabriel Barbosa and Rafael Alcantara right celebrate after receiving their gold medals after the final match of the men’s Olympic football tournament between Brazil and Germany at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday Aug. 20, 2016.
Neymar sent Brazil into ecstasy as he clinched Olympic football gold and Mo Farah sealed a rare distance double-double in a pulsating final evening of track action in Rio on Saturday. “Not only to the next match, but to the future of the national team”.
This was a landmark victory over a country that had inflicted an humiliating 7-1 defeat on it two years ago, in the semifinal of its own World Cup.
Barcelona forward Neymar, who missed the World Cup semi-final through injury, opened the scoring with a fine 25-yard free-kick, but the hosts were lucky to go in at half-time with the lead.
The future is Gabriel Jesus and Gabigol, both 19-year-old strikers.
They all played at the Olympics and helped the team win gold, giving the host nation its biggest moment of the Rio de Janeiro Games and restoring some of its soccer pride.
Rio de Janeiro, Aug 21: Brazilian superstar footballer Neymar Jr. has chose to step down as the captain of Brazil national football team.
Brazil beat Germany on penalty kicks, with Neymar sealing the gold medal.
However, they struggled to make chances and it was the Germans who nearly opened the scoring after 10 minutes when Julian Brandt smacked the bar with a lovely curling shot from outside the box.
Manchester City new boy Gabriel Jesus came close to nearly immediately putting Brazil back into the lead, before Luan took a tumble looking for a penalty and Neymar superbly cut inside to strike just wide.
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The celebration won’t last long, with a pair of World Cup qualifiers coming up against Ecuador and Colombia. And they did it with a lot of help from one of their best and most recognizable players – Neymar. “The seed has been planted”.
