Football 2020 Tokyo Olympic Review

Men’s Football

Group A started with an upset, as Mexico beat France 4-1, before going on to lose to Japan in their second game. France played out a thrilling second game, with seven second-half goals against South Africa and came from behind three times to win. France suffered another heavy defeat, against Japan losing 4-0 to the group winners. Heading into matchday three all teams had won a game in group B, but South Korea took the group victory, after beating Honduras 6-0. Australia upset Argentina in group C. Spain won the group with a draw against Argentina, knocking out Argentina. Brazil showed their potency in their opening fixture, beating Germany 4-2 before a 0-0 draw with Ivory Coast. A 3-1 win over Saudi Arabia won the group for Brazil, whilst Ivory Coast beat Germany into second. Spain took the first quarter-final 5-3 after extra time against Ivory Coast, with Rafa Mir scoring a hat-trick. Japan went to penalties, but managed to beat New Zealand 4-2. Brazil edged a 1-0 win against Egypt, whilst Mexico laid down a marker with a big 6-3 win over South Korea. In the first semi-final, Brazil went to a penalty shootout with Mexico, which they won 3-1. Another draw saw Japan take Spain to extra time, but they could not hold on for penalties as Marco Asensio scored the winner. In the third place play-off, Mexico took an early 2-0 lead, which Japan could not pull back, Mexico taking a 3-1 victory. Brazil took the lead in the final with a Matheus Cunha goal, but a Mikel Oyarzabal goal in the second half sent it to extra time. Richarlison did have a chance to seal it but sent his penalty over. In extra time it was Malcolm whose speed allowed him to get behind the Spanish defence and score the winner.

🥇Brazil 🇧🇷

🥈Spain 🇪🇸

🥉Mexico 🇲🇽

Women’s Football

The first shock happened on day one as Sweden overcame World Cup winners United States 3-0. They went on to beat Australia 4-2, leaving themselves in a strong position to win the group. They completed a third win to win the group, whilst the United States played out a 0-0 draw with Australia, to qualify in second. Great Britain also put themselves in control by beating Japan and Chile. A draw against Canada in the final group match confirmed the group win, but also helped Canada into second. The other group had some brilliant games, including Brazil's 3-3 draw with the Netherlands and Zambia's 4-4 draw with China. The Netherlands scored 21 goals, with Vivianne Miedema scoring eight. The first quarter-final saw Canada and Brazil head to extra time. It took a penalty shootout to separate them, with Canada winning 4-3. In the second, Australia took the lead against the run of play, but Great Britain would take control as  Ellen White scored a brace, only for Sam Kerr to equalise in the 87th minute. It went into extra time where White completed her hat trick but the Australia had scored two, to take a 4-3 victory after Britain missed a penalty. Sweden had a solid 3-1 victory over Japan, whilst after a 2-2 draw, the United States beat Netherlands 4-2 on penalties. Canada beat the United States in the semi-final, a 1-0 victory following a Jessie Fleming penalty. Fridolina Rolfo scored the only goal for a Swedish 1-0 victory. In the third place play-off, the United States took a 3-1 lead at halftime, adding a fourth before Australia scored two consolations. It was two goals from Megan Rapinoe and two from Carli Lloyd. Sweden took a 1-0 lead into halftime, but Canada pulled it back with a second-half penalty. It would be the final goal of a tense game, finishing 0-0. Sweden missed the first penalty, handing the initiative to Canada. The second penalty saw Canada miss, as Sweden scored. It was the bar that would deny Canada on their third penalty. Sweden only needing to score the remaining two, missed their following penalty but Canada missed their chance to equalise. With a gold medal there for the taking Sweden sent a penalty fly over the bar. The best penalty of the shootout sent it to sudden death and when Sweden missed again, Canada had their chance to win gold. The penalty would squirm under the keeper and bounce into the net to confirm the gold.

🥇Canada 🇨🇦

🥈Sweden 🇸🇪

🥉United States 🇺🇸