Brazil win second consecutive gold medal after beating Spain in men's Olympic final

Brazil are crowned champions of the men's Olympic football tournament at Tokyo 2020 and win their second Olympic gold in this competition. Andre Jardine's side beat Spain 2-1 in extra time after Malcom scored in the 108th minute. 

There was no clear favourite to win the gold medal and in the end Brazil confirmed that they are in fact the best Olympic football team. After the final whistle, the players jumped with joy and others with emotion after winning the final. Spain leave with the silver medal after having played a good tournament and were on the verge of winning the gold medal. 

The match was an exciting one and there were lots of chances for both teams to score. Both goalkeepers were strong and played a key role for their teams. Everything was going smoothly for Spain in the first half until Unai Simon committed a penalty on Cunha in the 36th minute. However, Brazil were not going to take advantage of this opportunity to open the scoring as Richarlison shot his effort over the crossbar. 

Spain breathed a sigh of relief after the Everton player's miss until, in the last minute before half-time, Matheus Cunha again took advantage of a bad mistake by Pau Torres who failed to clear Dani Alves' raining cross from the sky and Cunha was able to score unchallenged. After this goal, both teams went to the break before everything changed. 

Spain started the second half very well, although Brazil also had several chances to score the second. It would be in the 60th minute when Oyarzabal took advantage of a good cross from Carlos Soler and scored a great goal. The minutes passed and the scoreboard did not move, although in the last minutes Spain looked for a goal, but ended up finding the crossbar with a shot from Oscar and another from Bryan Gil. 

The game went into extra-time, a quiet first half, with several chances for Malcom who had just replaced Brazil's goalscorer Cunha. It was at the start of the second half, when Malcom Oliveira would take advantage of another defensive lapse by Spain in the 107th minute and score the goal that would give Brazil the gold medal. There were no more goals and Brazil managed to avoid going to penalties and win their second gold medal in an Olympic Games.

A good tournament for both teams who have fought until the end to get these two medals, but it is Brazil in the end who win the Olympic gold, while Spain will have to settle for silver.

 

August 7, 2021

 

August 7, 2021