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 win after beating Honduras 6-0. Australia upset Argentina in group three. 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. Mexico would take an early 2-0 lead which Japan would not pull back, Mexico taking a 3-1 victory. Brazil would take the lead in the final with a Matheus Cunha but a Mikel Oyarzabal goal in the second half would send it to extra time. Richarlison did have a chance to seal it but would send his penalty over. In extra time it was Malcolm whose speed would allow 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 US 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 confirmed the group win but also helped Canada into second. The other group had some brilliant games with Brazil 3-3 Netherlands and Zambia 4-4 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 a 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 Netherlands had scored two to take a 4-3 victory after Britain missed a penalty. Sweden had a good 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 would score the only goal for a Swedish 1-0 victory. The United States would take a 3-1 lead at halftime. They would add 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 would pull back with a second-half penalty. It would be the final goal of a tense game, finishing 0-0. Sweden would miss the first penalty, handing the initiative to Canada. The second penalty would see 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 would miss their following penalty but Canada would miss their chance to equalise. With a gold medal there for the taking Sweden would see their penalty fly over the bar. The best penalty of the shootout sent it to sudden death and when Sweden would miss, 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 🇺🇸