Germany face Brazil in the men’s gold medal final on Saturday at 21:30 BST.
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It is the first time that Germany or Sweden has played for the gold medal, and it’s also the first time two European teams have met in the finals. Goals from tournament top scorer Melanie Behringer and Sara Daebritz confined Canada to a 2-0 defeat and another battle for the bronze they won in London four years ago against Brazil in Sao Paolo on Friday.
Hence England’s footballers have had to watch the Olympics from afar, via television, while Sweden – hoiked back into the Games in their place – have progressed to the final via third place in their group and then shootout victories over 2012 champions United States and the great Marta’s 2016 hosts Brazil.
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.
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.
Germany had yet to play in Rio after traveling throughout the country for earlier matches.
Both teams have had a very different run through Brazil. It has to be expected that Neid will have studied Sweden’s past two games intently and formulated a plan to break down the resistance of Sundhage’s side.
With 12 goals en route to the final Germany were the favourites to take the gold and certainly had the better opportunities in the first half.
Can Sweden go all the way, or will Germany be too strong?
Silvia Neid, a former player with more than a hundred caps, coached Germany to the 2007 World Cup title.
Her 22-yard free kick in the 61st minute ricocheted off the left post, but Swedish defender Linda Sembrant with three Germans bearing down on her, accidentally placed the ball into her own net to give Germany a two-goal advantage.
“There is no way to describe the feeling of frustration”, said Brazil coach Vadao. She’s a capable goal scorer and will be one of Germany’s main weapons against Sweden’s defense.
The last time Sweden beat Germany in a major tournament, Pia Sundhage scored the tying goal in the 80th minute of a game in the 1995 World Cup. While their style of play has received plenty of criticism, most notably from United States keeper Hope Solo, it’s been effective. Her last match as a player was at the Atlanta Games, against Brazil.
“Hopefully they come to the final because that will be an exciting match as well”, said Sundhage, optimistically.
Neid’s Sweden counterpart, Pia Sundhage coached a team to a medal for the third consecutive Olympics.
The two teams have met three total times at the Olympics, and the Germans have won all three – the most recent was a 2-0 victory in extra time in the quarterfinals at the 2008 Beijing Games.
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Canada completed the podium as hosts Brazil lost for the second time in three days to miss out on a medal.
