Neymar scored a goal in 15 seconds against Honduras, the fastest in Olympic history.
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Right after the game’s opening kick-off, the Brazilian soccer superstar Neymar intercepted an ugly pass and got just one touch to guide it toward the goal before crashing into Honduras goalkeeper Luis López. 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.
Germany coach Horst Hrubesch has no interest in talking about Neymar, warning Brazil that it needs to stop his team in the men’s football final at the Rio Olympics.
“We won and we won well, but if in the final we don’t play well again, all of this will be for nothing”, Brazil midfielder Renato Augusto said. “Without him playing the way he is playing, I don’t think this team would have been in the final”.
Brazil is the only team with a clean sheet at the Olympic tournament, outscoring opponents 12-0 after five matches.
Brazilian fans had jeered and mocked Neymar after disappointing performances in the first two Olympic games scoreless draws against South Africa and Iraq.
The first half was not even over and Brazilian fans, 3-0 up in the semi-final against Honduras, were chanting, “Germany, just you wait, your time is coming”.
Germany will be hoping to recreate happy memories of Rio as they followed up beating Brazil to lift the World Cup at the Maracana with a 1-0 win over Lionel Messi’s Argentina two years ago.
“That was the World Cup, this is the Olympic team”, Brazil coach Rogerio Micale said.
But Brazil were disappointed not to have added a gold medal to their tally, after their duo composed of Agatha and Barbara lost in the beach volleyball final to Germany. Neymar is a guy who has a gift for playing football, who enchants.
Neymar takes a massive hit as he lands on his chest after the fall and has been stretchered off – he was not substituted but looks in a lot of pain.
On a broiling afternoon at the Maracaña, Brazil’s ever-mercurial footballers had a taste of how a tournament semi-final on home soil should end.
As they go for the Olympic gold medal, Brazil have a chance to redeem both of those losses at once.
“We will not lack fight”.
Germany’s defence will now be tested against a Brazil side that, during the course of the competition, has proved one of the oldest truisms in the game: It is when the collective balance of a team is sound that the individual talent appears.
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Although Matthias Ginter represents the only player on the German Rio 2016 Olympic side who was a member of Die Nationalmannschaft’s World Cup 2014-winning squad, make no mistake, the host nation will view this as a golden opportunity for redemption.
