Sweden earned the silver medal for its first Olympic medal in women’s soccer.
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Canada fell to Germany in the semifinals which set them up for this bronze medal match with Brazil.
Brazilian attentions will now be firmly focused on whether their men’s team can win Olympic gold for the first time when they face Germany at the Maracanã tomorrow. While the rest of the world focuses on track and field and swimming, sports that get their biggest spotlight during the Olympics, in the host country itself no event will match the Olympic football final for attention.
“That was the World Cup, this is the Olympic team”, Brazil coach Rogerio Micale said.
Germany had the better chances in the first half, including Anja Mittag’s rebound in the 25th minute that went just wide of the net. However, since a slow start in group play, Germany advanced to the gold medal match by back-to-back shutouts.
“What could be a greater experience for a young player than to be here at the Maracana for the final of an Olympic Games, playing in front of almost 80,000 people?” said Germany Coach Horst Hrubesch, who has also dismissed comparisons to 2014.
“We would just simply love, I know the players would love to get the gold medal”, Neid said. Neymar is one. Mostly composed of U-23 athletes, each nation team is allowed just three players over the age of 23 to include on their Olympic rosters. “The crowd jostled to see those men, slippery as squirrels, who played chess with a ball”, wrote the great Eduado Galeano.
Russian Federation took home the bronze, beating Hungary 19-18 on penalty shots. But it also gave them a chance to threaten Germany’s goal – an Olivia Schough misfire on a Lotta Schelin cross and Schelin’s missed shot on a counter were moments that will leave some Swedish fans to wonder what might have happened had their team scored first. When the final seconds ticked off, Krikorian walked over to congratulate Italy coach Fabio Conti, and then was tackled into the pool by a couple of his jubilant players.
The embarrassment suffered two years ago only deepened the need for football-mad Brazil to right a perceived historical wrong at their own Games.
This year, in the Olympics, the Brazilians did it again, defeating Colombia 2-0 and moving on to play Honduras in the semi-finals.
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The second reason, in the words of Aline, the reserve goalkeeper of the women’s team, people have been backing them because the team represents the “spirit of time” – women’s claim to the same rights, opportunities and wages as men. “If we can remain scoreless one more game, I’m sure we will be able to reach our goal of winning the gold”. “You can never count them out”.
