After two awful performances against South Africa and Iraq – two scoreless ties – Brazil has scored 12 goals and the team finally seems to have gelled.
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The host country of these Olympic Games will have an opportunity to change that Saturday.
Brazil won 6-0 to advance to the final. They didn’t have to wait long to cheer, with Neymar scoring 15 seconds into the game.
Paris Saint-Germain defender Marquinhos also got in on the scoring action and added a fourth early in the second half before Luan added a fifth.
“The fans help us”, said Gabriel Jesus after 52,000 supporters roared them to victory over Honduras. “They want us to play well and they want us to win the gold”.
BEACH BRONZE: Few bronze medal games will feature a more intriguing matchup than the one on Copacabana Beach, where Walsh Jennings, who has won three gold medals, and Ross will face Brazil’s top-seeded top-seeded team of Talita and Larissa.
That made little difference in 2014 but Brazil hope that the Maracana is more intimidating that the Mineirao in Belo Horizonte and that the young German players are easier to ruffle than their older peers were two years ago.
The semifinal had barely kicked off when Barcelona forward Neymar intercepted the ball, charged toward the Honduran side, tripped over the goalie and landed the ball into the net, sending the Maracana Stadium into a frenzy of cheers.
After Wednesday’s game, Brazil coach Rogerio Micale tried to explain what Neymar means to the team. But for most Brazilians, their attention was on one place and one place only – Maracana.
“It was awesome to just arrive in the stadium and watch a attractive goal”, said Filipe Deliza, a 19 year-old law student from Rio.
Somewhat surprisingly, it was Nigeria who came out the strongest after the restart, though despite creating plenty of half-chances, Mikel John-Obi going close with a header, Samson Siasia’s side could not engineer a way through Germany’s stubborn, albeit tiring, defence.
USA HOOPS: After meeting in the semifinals of the last three Olympics, the US men’s basketball team plays Argentina in the quarterfinals.
AMERICAN SWEEP: Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin finished 1-2-3 in the 100-meter hurdles to give the United States its first sweep in the event, its seventh in the history of Olympic track and the 23rd for USA women, regardless of sport, over the history of the Summer Games.
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Germany, who had taken four World Cup titles, got their best record in the event after seeing Nigeria 2-0 on the same day.
