Most of his team-mates preferred to downplay a potential revenge match and Santos was one of the few to admit there will be a special atmosphere at the Maracana when two of the greatest national teams in the world meet on Saturday.
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Many of the Selecao’s fans have not and can not forget the 7-1 hammering dished out by the Germans at the 2014 World Cup semi-final in Belo Horizonte.
Brazillian captain Neymar created Olympic history by scoring the fastest ever goal in the tournament, latching onto a defensive error by Honduras to score in just under 15 seconds.
Brazil’s male football squad get ready for the Olympic final at the Maracana stadium.
Neymar scored twice, including the fastest goal in Olympic history, as Brazil set up a blockbuster revenge showdown with Germany for Olympic gold by thrashing Honduras 6-0 on Wednesday.
The Brazilian squad will look to win their first Olympic gold medal as they face rival country Germany in the final. The ghosts of that night in Belo Horizonte live on, but the raptures heralding the Brazilian advance to a fourth Olympic final suggest that the fragile bond between players and public is at least starting to be restored.
Marquinhos and Luan would add two more goals for Brazil in the second half before Neymar would fittingly cap off the game with his second goal, a penalty kick, in stoppage time completing the 6xO dismantling.
The Olympic football tournament, then, has given Brazil a chance to reconnect with the fans.
Germany earned the spot in final from Lukas Klostermann and Nils Petersen handed the world champions victory in Sao Paulo.
Germany will enjoy plenty of possession and if Brazil can not get in front early, then it will be interesting to see how the hosts react.
Jesus said: “We were lucky to score so quickly”.
“For the time being, we have only the silver achieved, ” Micale said.
Germany, Brazil’s opponents, defeated tournament outsiders Nigeria 2-0. “If we can remain scoreless one more game, I’m sure we will be able to reach our goal of winning the gold”. What happened in the past is in the past, nothing is going to change that, even if we win by seven goals.
Germany was playing in the Olympics for the first time since 1988, when USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann was on the team.
Victory in Rio would help restore some of Brazil’s soccer pride after the World Cup defeat and this year’s elimination in the group stage of the Copa America. East Germany won gold in 1976, while the old West Germany’s best effort came with bronze in 1988.
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Germany will be hoping to recreate happy memories of Rio as they followed up beating Brazil to lift the World Cup at the Maracana with a 1-0 win over Lionel Messi’s Argentina two years ago. It has never won the gold.
