Honduras claimed the second qualifying spot by virtue of a superior goal difference over Argentina, who missed a penalty in their match, with both sides finishing on four points.
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After two matches in which they failed to score a single goal, Brazil’s men’s soccer team was on the receiving end of a great deal of criticism heading into their group stage finale against Denmark Wednesday night.
That was the stark warning issued by national coach Rogerio Micale as the host nation’s Olympic men’s team approached their must-win fixture against Denmark.
“The effort was there in the first matches, we tried hard but the results didn’t happen”, Neymar said.
The quarterfinals will begin on Saturday, with Brazil facing Colombia, Denmark playing Nigeria, Portugal taking on Germany and South Korea meeting Honduras.
Brazil legend Zico has criticised Neymar’s captaincy of the country’s Olympic side, and says he fears further embarrassment for the nation with another group exit looming. The team has one more match in Group A where they will play Denmark in Salvador.
South Africa and Iraq both crashed out after their 1-1 draw in the group’s other game.
The convincing victory also helped Brazil regain the support of the local fans, who had been disappointed by lackluster performances and had loudly jeered the team in the games against South Africa and Iraq. “Hopefully it will be like that again in Sao Paulo”.
Brazil fans need to show encouragement as the hosts search for their best form at Rio 2016, according to Barcelona star Neymar.
In the 70th minute, there was a scare for Brazil as Neymar went down after twisting his ankle. Gabigol’s second goal came with a shot off a rebound in the 80th.
Much of their ire was focused on Neymar and Renato Augusto, two of the biggest names in the Olympic squad and two of three players permitted to be over the age of 23.
After over 200 minutes of scoreless soccer at the Olympics, Gabigol finally got Brazil on the board in Rio.
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Scolari went through similar difficulties before the 2002 World Cup, when Brazil’s national team didn’t have the support of the home fans after nearly failing to qualify to the tournament in South Korea and Japan.
