Brazil’s Marta gestures after penalty shootout during a semi-final match of the women’s Olympic football tournament between Brazil and Sweden at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday Aug. 16, 2016.
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After making a penalty save that helped Sweden get past the USA women’s team in the quarterfinals, Lindahl made two stops against Brazil at the Maracana Stadium to secure her team’s spot in the Olympic final for the first time. Germany advanced to the gold medal match after beating Canada 2-0 in the semifinals.
Sweden will next play Germany in Saturday’s gold medal match at Rio’s Maracana Stadium after the German women beat Canada 2-0 in Tuesday’s later semifinal.
The fans at the 78,000-seat Maracana – the biggest crowd ever for a women’s national team match in Brazil – roared whenever Marta touched the ball. Brazil’s Cristiane and Sweden’s Kosovare Asllani also had their kicks saved. Sweden, whose previous best showing at an Olympics was fourth place in 2004, will now face tough task of overcoming second-ranked Germany for the gold. Despite their famed skills and guile the Brazilians could not break the opposition down near enough to goal to create real match-winning chances.
Back then, the Swedish men’s team had suffered a string of high-profile defeats, the coach’s contract was up, and many were speculating Sundhage might take over the men’s team. “Simple answer”, Dahlkvist said, laughing while describing how she tuned out the din at the almost full stadium.
“I think that’s all, ” Lindahl said.
When she finally rose, she and Sweden coach Pia Sundhage shared a warm embrace. Brazil’s charismatic forward won FIFA’s Women’s World Player of the Year five consecutive years from 2006-10. The Americans, knocked out in the Rio quarterfinals by Sweden, would go on to the final that year.
“It’s okay to be a coward if you win”, she added. Marta and Beatriz scored two goals each in that first match. “That’s a compliment to her”, Solo told The Associated Press during the Olympics.
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But what Marta doesn’t have in her storied career is a major worldwide title.
