2020 Olympic Men's Football Final: Brazil wins the title for the second time in a row!

The paths to the final of these two top teams were not the same. Brazil played Germany in the opening match, recreating the final of the previous tournament.Olympicsbefore (the host team Brazil won the gold medal after a lucky penalty shootout), but this time easily beat their slumping opponents with a score of 4-2. Brazil had a difficult match against Ivory Coast when they lost a key player after 15 minutes of departure, but still played extremely flexibly and dominated, although in the end they only got 1 point. The team in yellow and green played better than their opponents in the quarter-final match against Egypt, but had to sweat after 120 minutes without a goal against the North American team Mexico.

The joy of the U23 Brazil players.

The conventional wisdom that the favourites will struggle in a penalty shootout, especially when the opposition has a renowned goalkeeper, has not been true for Brazil recently.

Remember, at the 1994 World Cup, Brazil beat Italy on penalties in the final, one Olympic tournament ago, Brazil beat Germany on penalties in the final, and this time in the Olympic semi-finals, Brazil beat Mexico on penalties. Brazilian football still has its artistic side but has become strangely tough in the nerve-wracking moments, so any opponent facing Brazil should understand this crucial point before implementing measures to limit the opponent's strength.

Meanwhile, the “most expensive team” Spain did not play well in the group stage, drawing with both Egypt and Argentina, only narrowly winning against Australia. In the quarter-final match against Ivory Coast, this team almost lost but managed to come back in the last 4 minutes of the match and exploded in the 30 minutes of extra time when introducing a new striker who scored 3 goals in extra time, Rafa Mir.

In the semi-final match against host Japan, strangely, it was only when the most dangerous strikers left the field such as Pedri, Olmo... that Spain got a "golden goal" in the style of Real Madrid by Asensio near the end of the second extra time. Kubo on the Japanese side (Real Madrid player) must have been extremely disappointed when he did not remind his teammates to find a way to counter this strong attack?

Obviously, the fact that Mexico and Japan held out quite well against opponents who were rated higher shows the deadlock of the "big guys" Brazil and Spain in the decisive matches and only high spirit and fighting to the end will bring the desired results. That said, in the final match on August 7, 2021, when both teams want to play to control the ball, using attack to defend, it is not easy to predict who will win.

The fact that the Spanish Olympic team passed the semi-finals is a "revenge" for the recent failure in the semi-finals of EURO 2020 when they brought 6 players from the national team to the Olympics, aiming for the second gold medal after the success at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Those are the main factors that make this team truly strong, but whether their continuous hard work in major tournaments with high competition makes them "dull" or not is still a question that makes Brazilians find a little hope?

Meanwhile, the pressure of defending the gold medal of the defending champion team, the desire to "avenge" the senior team who just failed at the gate of heaven at Copa America 2021, may make the Brazilian Olympic team compete more explosively? Moreover, Japan is a "good land" when Brazil was crowned the 5th World Cup king in 2002 here. The hot weather may be a hindrance for Europeans, but for Brazil, they will not be affected at all. Is there more hope for the yellow-green team?

But youth football is not very calculating, so there will certainly be many interesting surprises. If they lose their rhythm, the Brazilian machine will become staggered and deadlocked, then meet a "sudden death" like their seniors did in the recent Copa America. The more they play, the better they are showing, and who knows, maybe they will play all out in the final match with the best they bring to this youth playground?

Let's wait and see who will win the second Olympic football gold medal, Brazil or Spain?