Tokyo Olympics: Brazil advance into quarterfinals; Argentina, Germany falter

By
Ankita Nandy
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Richarlison scored twice in Brazil's win over Saudi Arabia

Tokyo: A brace from Richarlison helped defending champions Brazil advance to the quarterfinals of men’s football tournament at the Tokyo Olympics after they defeated Saudi Arabia 3-1 on Wednesday. In another match of the day, hosts Japan upset France 4-0.

At Saitama Stadium, Matheus Cunha opened the scoring for Brazil in the 14th minute before Abdulelah Almari cancelled it out on 27 minutes. Just as it looked like the match would go into a draw, Richarlison’s twin strikes in the 76th and 90+3 minutes took them through.

In the same Group D, former champions Germany failed to proceed to the quarterfinals after they were held to a 1-1 draw against Ivory Coast. Benjamin Heinrichs scored an own goal to give Ivory Coast the lead. Although the goal was neutralised by Eduard Lowen’s beautiful freekick four minutes later, it was too late for the Germans sail into the next round.

In Group C, Ahmed Yasser Rayyan and Amar Hamdi scored for Egypt as they defeated Australia 2-0 and made it to the quarters alongside Spain, who held Argentina with a 1-1 draw. Both Egypt and Argentina finished on the same points but the former prevailed on the virtue of goal difference.

In Group A, Japan advanced to the quarterfinals after rampaging against France. Japan were the dominating team all around and found it convincing to proceed into the next round. They will be facing New Zealand in the last eight stage, who were held by Romania to a goalless draw in a Group B encounter.

South Korea thrashed Honduras 6-0 while Mexico defeated South Africa 3-0 to advance to the next round. In the quarterfinals, Spain will be facing Ivory Coast while Brazil await the Egyptian test. South Korea will face Mexico. All the matches are on July 31.

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