And although neither side have won the Olympic gold, communist East Germany won it in 1976, that is largely irrelevant to Germany but of huge importance to Brazil and they have gone all out to break their gold medal hoodoo.
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The embarrassment suffered two years ago only deepened the need for football-mad Brazil to right a perceived historical wrong at their own Games.
Brazilian sides were happy to let their players miss league duty to play in the Olympics because they are so desperate to win that one elusive title.
“I am sure the final with Germany will be a great match but it has nothing to do with the past”. The Germans beat Nigeria 2-0 in Sao Paulo.
For Brazil, Neymar is very much the focal point but Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Barbosa and Luan have all contributed with goals and will be asking plenty of questions of Germany’s backline in Rio. For Germany, they too will take confidence from a 4-0 rout of Portugal in Brasilia in the quarter-finals and a comfortable 2-0 victory against Nigeria in the semis.
The Olympic gold medal is the only major trophy the five-time World Cup champions haven’t won in soccer. The most famous Brazil win coming in the 2002 World Cup final.
It didn’t take long for the Barcelona player to put the hosts ahead. Brazil defeated Honduras 6-0 in the first semifinal.
Lopez tackled Neymar and brought him to the ground, but he was not quick enough to stop the ball rolling cleanly into the net.
Thrashing Honduras 6-0, Brazil got multiple players on the goal-scoring sheet. The win of Brazil secured the Olympic host country a spot in Saturday’s Rio Olympics 2016 Soccer Games final. Janine Beckie took only 20 seconds to score for Canada against Australia in the women’s tournament in Rio.
The capacity crowd at the 78,639-seater Maracana were on their feet again in the 25th minute as Manchester City’s £27 million (S$47 million) new recruit Gabriel Jesus finished calmly to double Brazil’s lead. Replays show the ball hits the side netting and rolls along the back of the net giving the illusion it’s in basically what I’m saying is that it’s still 4-0 and it wasn’t a goal.
Marquinhos celebrating his goal vs Honduras.
Brazil and Germany are playing with their U23 teams at the Olympic tournament, as per Federation Internationale de Football Association regulations, with three over-age players permitted on each team.
After the match, some Honduran players were taking photos with Neymar on the field.
He was also on the national team eliminated by Germany’s senior squad after an embarrassing 7-1 loss in World Cup semifinals two years ago, although he didn’t play because of a back injury sustained in the quarterfinals against Colombia.
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“The final has nothing to do with that match”.
