Brazil reaches men's football final with tennis-style win

Neymar scored twice in Brazil's 6-0 win over Honduras in the Olympic men's football semi-finals.

Brazil is very close to winning its first Olympic men's football gold medal. Photo: Reuters

Goals: 1', 90', Gabriel Jesus 26', 35', Marquinhos 51', Luan 79'

Neymar scored the opening goal in the 15th second of the match. This is a new record in Olympic history.

After the Brazilian captain's lightning goal, a "rain of goals" came and rained down on the Honduras Olympic goal. The away team tried to fight back with fouls and a collision-oriented style of play, but to no avail.

Up front, Brazil's attacking quartet of Neymar, Luan, Gabriel Barbosa and Gabriel Jesus continuously coordinated to disrupt the Honduran defense. In the 26th minute, Luan passed the ball to Jesus to coolly increase the score to 2-0. Nine minutes later, it was Neymar's turn to play the role of creator and Jesus was the one who successfully finished.

Not content with a 3-0 first half lead, Brazil dominated play once again after the break, resulting in three more goals against Honduras, including Marquinhos' close-range finish from Neymar's corner, Luan's goal and Neymar's successful penalty kick.

With a big win, Brazil has qualified for the Olympic men's football final for the second consecutive time. Neymar and his teammates will face the winner of the other semi-final: Nigeria - Germany.

Brazil has reached the Olympic men's football final three times but has never won a gold medal. They lost to France in the 1984 final, the former Soviet Union in 1988 and Mexico in 2012.

Before reaching the final this year, Brazil seemed to be eliminated early. In the group stage, Neymar and his teammates could only manage a 0-0 draw in both of their first two matches against South Africa and Iraq. Brazil only rose from a 4-0 win over Denmark. Then came a 2-0 win over Colombia in the quarterfinals and a 6-0 win over Honduras in the semis.

The fact that the Brazilian men reached the final was a great consolation for their female counterparts. On the evening of August 16, the Brazilian women's team lost to Sweden in a penalty shootout in another semi-final.

According to VNE