The soccer power that’s won everything else in major international competition finally has its Olympic gold medal. And it did so in the most dramatic fashion possible.
Neymar scored the deciding spot kick in a riveting penalty shootout to give Brazil its first Olympic championship in men’s soccer. The host nation won the shootout 5-4 after goalkeeper Weverton blocked Nils Petersen’s fifth-round penalty to keep it at 4-4.
Successful penalties by Renato Augusto, Marquinhos, Rafinha and Luan gave Brazil the tying spot kicks to put the pressure back on Germany. Petersen was the first to crack as Weverton dove to his left to block the PK with both hands.
The Maracana crowd roared knowing full well who would step up to take advantage of Germany’s misfortune — Neymar.
Two years ago, it was Germany who spoiled the party in Brazil when they beat the host nation 7-1 in the World Cup semifinal. Saturday provided the opportunity to pay it back.
Payback is what the fans were calling for even before Brazil discovered it would play Germany in the men’s soccer gold medal match of the Rio Games. They chanted as much in the second half of Wednesday’s 6-0 semifinal rout of Honduras, yelling “Germany, your time is coming!” in hopes of exacting revenge for the national nightmare two years ago in Brasilia that still stings for most, if not all, supporters of the Selecao.
Neymar produced his own Olympic moment for the ages with a brilliant free kick that figured to be the highlight of the game. The 27th-minute golazo gave Brazil a 1-0 lead, and he paid tribute to the star of these Summer Games not named Michael Phelps by celebrating with the trademark pose of Usain Bolt, the track and field god who scored his third straight hat trick in Olympic sprints.
But Max Meyer’s 59th-minute goal brought Germany level.
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