Brazil didn’t impress…

The Brazilian team U23 was very unimpressive in its first game at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The match was held in Estadio Nacional de Brasilia. The host nation finished with a 0-0 draw against South Africa and recorded only a point after its first game in the competition. Neymar was also disappointed, even though he tried his best to find the Africans’ net. However, the big hero for the visiting team was the goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune, who made 8 saves in the match.

Moreover, Brazil played against 10 men for more than 30 minutes, because Mothobi Mvala was sent off for collecting 2 yellow cards in the 59th minute. The new signing of Manchester City – Gabriel Jesus made the biggest miss in the match, when in the second half, he hit the post from about 2 metres. Neymar tried two good long range shots, but Khune made fantastic saves.
The next two matches from the group stage for Brazil are against Iraq and Denmark. These two teams also finished with a 0-0 draw, so there are no goals in the group A yet. In the next round Brazil are going to meet Iraq on 8th August, while Denmark will play against South Africa.

Meanwhile, Oribe Peralta is playing his second Olympic games for Mexico. He won a golden medal with his nation in 2012 and now he is motivated to retain the trophy. Peralta score one of the goals for Mexico against Germany (2-2). To continue with, one of the favourites – Argentina lost 0-2 to Portugal, which was very disappointing for Albiceleste.

Here are the other matches from the first round of the group stage of the Olympic football tournament in Rio de Janeiro 2016:

Group A: Brazil 0-0 South Africa; Iraq 0-0 Denmark;
Group B: Sweden 2-2 Colombia; Nigeria 5-4 Japan;
Group C: Mexico 2-2 Germany; Fiji 0-8 South Korea;
Group D: Honduras 3-2 Algeria; Portugal 2-0 Argentina;