Germany won their first ever Olympic gold medal in women’s football on Friday when they turned in a superior second half performance to beat Sweden 2-1 at the Maracana stadium in Rio.
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The win was Germany’s sixth unbeaten match in the tournament and lifts them into an elite group alongside the United States and Norway as the only teams to win both the Women’s World Cup and the Olympics.
The U.S. men’s 4×400 relay team, led by LaShawn Merritt, is heavily favored to win and extend the country’s remarkable run in Rio – 27 medals in track and field. The U.S. medal haul also included Matthew Centrowitz winning the 1,500-meters – the first American to take gold in the event in more than 100 years.
Neymar has won the Champions League with Barcelona, the Copa Libertadores when at Santos and the 2013 Confederations Cup with the national team.
Anxiety levels were increasing as Luan and Gabriel Jesus had attempts to settle the match, with Meyer fizzing across the face of goal at the other end as both sides failed to snatch a victor.
Brazil kept pushing forward and just before the half-hour mark they got the goal that their play deserved.
“This is one of the happiest things that have happened to me”, he said moments later.
“This is something completely new, so this is definitely a new summit for German women’s football”, said Germany coach Silvia Neid, who is retiring after the Olympics.
Both sides scored their first four but substitute Petersen’s spot-kick was saved by Weverton, giving Neymar the chance to make history. “Dedicated”, Micale said through a translator.
However, he also suddenly stepped down as captain after taking on the role in 2014 following Brazil’s disastrous World Cup exit.
The soccer game will feature almost entirely different rosters from the 2014 World Cup that marked a low point for Brazilian soccer (known as futebol here). The two-time Federation Internationale de Football Association coach of the year had long planned to step down following the Rio Games.
Germany failed to qualify for the Olympics in 2012 but won the bronze the last three times they played, in 2000, 2004 and 2008.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Julian Brandt, who roamed in from the right-hand side throughout the contest, was the first to send a gasp around the Maracana in the 10th minute, curing a long-range effort against the bar after good work from Arsenal midfielder Serge Gnabry down the left wing.
Brazil arrived as the main title-favorite but struggled in the beginning, being held to scoreless draws against South Africa and Iraq and becoming in danger of failing to advance past the group stage.
The wounds remain raw two years on from a 7-1 World Cup semi-final shellacking that not only saw the Selecao lose the chance of winning on home turf but their dignity. He had two goals including one only 15 seconds into the match for the fastest goal in Olympic history. Brazilian football is not dead.
With his penalty kick in the Olympic final, Neymar helped ease some of that lingering bitterness.
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“We went through hard moments in the beginning of the competition, we were criticized”, he said, “and we answered on the field, with soccer”.
