Melanie Behringer’s 20th minute penalty and Sara Daebritz’s goal on the hour mark ensured a comfortable victory for the German women. Brazil’s men’s team are into the final and once again just one game away from becoming Olympic champions.
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Instead, Germany and Sweden will be vying to capture Olympic gold for the first time in Friday’s final of the women’s football event at the famed Maracana stadium in Rio.
A tournament of obstacles overcome comes down to one that seems forever insurmountable.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Coach Silvia Neid’s final match as coach of Germany will be for the gold medal at the Rio Games. That was however, their only win inside of 90 minutes in Brazil. The tournament ultimately didn’t end in glory for them, but it at least ended respectably in the knockout rounds. They won the silver at Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008) and were runners-up in the World Cup in China in 2007.
On paper, Germany should be favored over Sweden.
Germany is 9-0-0 in that span. Brazil had 33 shots at goal, compared to Sweden’s six. After finishing third in Group C, the Swedes faced off against the mighty Americans in the quarterfinals.
No wonder, then, that when asked to favor the media with a song during a news conference Thursday in Rio, Sundhage turned to Bob Dylan as inspiration.
However, she refused to take a swipe at Solo’s comments, labelled “disappointing” and lacking Olympic values by the International Olympic Committee.
A program with a proud history, Sweden is an unlikely finalist in these Olympics. That’s right, the Brazilian women’s soccer team have fallen at the penultimate hurdle.
Optimism wasn’t high going into the Rio games, and after two group matches, even that had dropped lower. There is no Olympic qualifying tournament in UEFA, the European governing body.
One of their biggest showdowns came at the 2011 World Cup in Germany.
“Better than Neymar!” fans cheered after one match.
Both teams are playing in their first Olympic final.
My responsibility is to try to find a way to win. Canada plays host Brazil for the bronze in Sao Paulo. Sweden won the first game 4-2, but lost in the third place match, 2-1. And then came the penalty kick shootouts against both the United States and Brazil to reach Friday’s final. The Germans. Of course.
Morgan’s team-mate, Hope Solo, called Sweden “cowards” after the penalty shootout, to which the Swedish coach gave the flawless response.
It will be Neid’s last match as coach of the German team.
It wasn’t said about this rivalry, or even about the correct gender in this instance, but never has the oft-repeated Gary Lineker quip been more accurate. “Someone has to lose”, she said.
This German team has been far from the almost flawless operation that won World Cups in 2003 and 2007. She was only 17 when she appeared at the 2003 World Cup in the United States. Certainly it didn’t set the event alight in the group stage with a 2-2 draw with Australia and a 2-1 defeat by Canada following a 6-1 dismissal of minnows Zimbabwe.
She was voted World Player of the Year five times in a row between 2006 and 2010. Now 30, Lena Goessling’s role is diminished. “So I’m very aware that we have to pay extra attention to her”.
However, losing the semifinal match will do nothing to compromise the legacy of either Sinclair or Marta, as both of these star players have over 100 goals for their countries, and they are largely responsible for bringing their respective women’s soccer teams to relevance in their home nations. There is experience on the bench, but Germany is in the midst of its own youth movement. “As a matter of fact, on the contrary, because Sweden has played here before, they know atmosphere, they know the stadium, if anything, they would have an advantage”. “I think she had a fantastic game”, Sundhage said.
The U.S. was the first to taste the enormous frustration of coming up short against that approach, prompting goalkeeper Hope Solo to describe Sweden as “cowards” in the immediate aftermath of its shootout loss. “That’s a neat memory”, Sundhage said. “That is all that matters, especially [Friday]”.
“I remember we played in ’95 against each other and Sweden won, in Sweden”. There is more history to be made at the Maracana this weekend. Germany will need her at her best if they’re going to break down Sweden’s deep defense, as they’ve struggled to create chances against great defensive teams without her. But that dream had an untimely death Tuesday as Brazil lost the semifinals to Sweden.
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It’s hard because, obviously, us being knocked out by Sweden leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, but Pia gave me my first shot with the USA team.
