Neymar scored twice as Brazil routed Honduras 6-0 in their semifinal in front of a near-capacity crowd at the Maracana Stadium on Wednesday, reports Xinhua.
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Despite boasting a combined nine World Cup wins, neither country has won Olympic gold as a unified nation.
Though the Brazilian national side have three silver Olympic medals and a further two bronze in their extensive trophy cabinet, they have never won gold at the Olympics. “He has the gift of playing football, he delights everyone with his talent”, said Brazil coach Rogerio Micale.
Andres Silva leveled the match up just beyond the hour mark from the penalty spot, putting Porto in a solid position heading into the second leg.
Brazil forward, Neymar has set a new world record at the Rio Olympic Games, Fifa has confirmed. We knew about that pressure from the beginning. “We play the same way and we will seek the gold that is dreamed of by us Brazilians”.
The Barcelona star hounded defender Johnny Palacios to rob possession on the edge of the Honduras box and goalkeeper Luis Lopez’s attempt to atone for his teammate’s error only ricocheted the ball off Neymar’s midriff and into an empty goal.
Hapoel’s chances took a major hit in the dying minutes when Nir Biton and Scott Brown finished off the game with goals inside the final 16 minutes.
Neymar set up Gabriel Jesus’ second goal with a flawless through ball behind a defender.
In Spain, an early penalty decision handed visitors AS Monaco a lead after three minutes, and the French side ultimately held on for an important 2-1 win vs. Villareal.
Marquinhos added a fourth, blasting home from close-range when unmarked following a corner, before Luan tapped in after substitute Felipe Anderson’s run.
“Nothing will take the shine off the work we did during the whole year”, marta told SporTV.
Brazil began their campaign with two goalless draws against South Africa and Iraq and were booed by their own fans after their second match.
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But Neymar and the rest of the squad picked up the pace just in time, beating Denmark 4-0 in the final group match and eliminating Colombia 2-0 in the quarterfinals. “7-1 was one time in a career, we will not win 7-1 against Brazil”.
