Neymar had given the South American nation the lead in the first half with a sublime free-kick, which curled past Timo Horn into the German goal. Fireworks burst over the stadium, auto horns blared and fans sang and tossed beer into the air.
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As the team stood atop the medal podium, gold draped around their necks, tears streamed down the faces of fans as all of Maracana Stadium joined in belting out the national anthem.
All the talk in the lead up was about the 2014 World Cup semi-final, in which Germany humiliated a Brazil side missing the injured Neymar 7-1 in Belo Horizonte.
The penalties went back and forth with neither club getting the edge until Brazil’s goalkeeper Weverton de Silva deflected the fifth penalty shot by Germany’s Nils Peterson.
Neymar, the national team’s biggest star and a teammate of Lionel Messi at Barcelona, is the present, and expected leader of the team by the time the next World Cup comes around in Russian Federation in 2018.
Neymar: A very unhappy man.
The stop set the stage for Neymar, as if scripted.
Brazil kept pushing forward and just before the half-hour mark they got the goal that their play deserved.
“I don’t have words to say anything”, Neymar said, sobbing.
He just expressed gratitude to his teammates, family, and friends who were there by his team during the most hard moments.
“I’m Brazilian, with much pride and much love”, a chant from Antunes’ group proclaimed in Portuguese. He did not elaborate.
Brazil’s Marta, left, and Canada’s Jessie Fleming compete for the ball during the bronze medal match of the women’s Olympic football tournament between Brazil and Canada at the Arena Corinthians stadium in Sao Paulo, Friday Aug. 19, 2016.
Germany followed its goal with more firm footwork and Brazil, insecure and nervous, knew that if it put more rhythm in counter-attacks, the skill and speed of Neymar and his team could surprise the German defense.
It has been celebration all night as Brazil who have gotten to the final on three occasions – 1984, 1988 and at the London 2012 Games now have a gold medal in football.
Germany hit the woodwork three times in the first half – through Julian Brandt’s 25-yard effort, a deflection off a Brazilian defender and Sven Bender’s header – before they scored a deserved equaliser shortly after the restart.
“We had this discussion and it wasn’t public at the time before”.
Brazil coach Rogerio Micale said: “We had players who were extremely dedicated, professional and with great technical skill”. As if written in the stars, that presented Neymar with the chance to win it and send a whole country of 205 million people into ecstatic hysteria.
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“Now the respect is back”, said fan Guilherme Junior. “Please visit us again soon”.
