San Olympic gold medal in soccer for Brazil will not undo the embarrassment of the 2014 World Cup. Perhaps nothing will. But Saturday provided a dramatic recovery, a tense rekindling of joy where before there was national shame.
Maracana Stadium filled with celebration and relief as Brazil won its first Olympic soccer title, defeating Germany, 5-4, on penalty kicks after the match remained tied at 1-1 through 120 minutes. The victory provided some redemption from, if not erasure of, a humiliating 7-1 defeat to Die Mannschaft at home in the semifinals of the World Cup.
When the Brazilian goalkeeper Weverton dived to his left to save a penalty kick by Germany’s Nils Petersen, the anxiety of the evening exploded into liberation.
Neymar, the star forward, then approached the ball for the winning penalty kick. He did a stutter step then shot high and assuredly. Brazil has won five World Cups but never until that moment of release an Olympic gold medal.
Neymar went to his knees, then onto his stomach, his hands covering his face, struggling to control his emotions. His teammates, who had been on their knees at midfield, as if praying, began running toward him in a jubilant sprint.
“Champions!” roared the crowd of about 78,000 at Maracana. A Brazilian fan ran from the stands into the group hug of players. He wore a national flag like a cape, as if superhero effort had been needed to reverse the traumatic outcome against Germany two years ago.
“Nothing will replace 7 to 1,” said Roberto Artiaga, 39, a Brazilian fan. “It’s impossible. But it eases the pain. We will hurt a little less.”
Saturday’s victory came with far different rosters and under far different circumstances from the 2014 World Cup.
The Olympic tournament is for players under 23 years of age, with three older players allowed per team. It is a youth tournament, so that FIFA, soccer’s governing body, can protect the singularity of the World Cup, which it considers the most important international sporting event.
Neymar, 24, sat out that shocking loss to Germany in 2014 with a broken vertebra in his back. Matthias Ginter, a central defender who made one of Germany’s penalty kicks Saturday, was the youngest player on Germany’s World Cup roster but did not leave the bench.
“Nobody here played in that final,” Weverton, the Brazilian goalkeeper told reporters before Saturday’s match. “What happened in the past is in the past. Nothing is going to change that, even if we win by seven goals. We have a chance to create our own history.”
The Olympics might be a lesser tournament, but Saturday’s gold-medal match possessed the same stressed, edgy feel of a World Cup final.
“We are very excited, very scared and afraid, too,” Mariana Canuto, 33, a Brazilian fan, said beforehand.
In the 27th minute, Neymar curled a free kick off the underside of the crossbar and into the upper left corner, giving Brazil a 1-0 lead. But this exorcism would not come easily.
In the 59th minute, Max Meyer swiveled on a crossing pass and tied the score at 1-1 with a low, hard shot.
Still, Brazil kept its resolve at Maracana, a storied arena, but also the site of one of Brazil’s most heartbreaking defeats, a 2-1 loss to Uruguay in the decisive game of the 1950 World Cup before a crowd reported to be 199,854.
The stadium has been downsized, along with certainty about Brazil’s superiority as a soccer nation.
That World Cup loss to Germany seemed to rob Brazil of its assurance that individual skill and flair could trump collective organization by an opponent. Then, in June, Brazil bombed out of Copa America in group pla y and Dunga was fired as national coach.
Maracana Stadium filled with celebration and relief Saturday as Brazil won its first Olympic soccer title.
Many have begun to compare Brazilian soccer to the country’s ongoing political and economic crises, with corruption and stagnant management in the national soccer federation and a development program that exports young players overseas.
Meanwhile, the longing and heartache in Brazil have been refracted through a lens of German success. Germany won the 2014 World Cup at Maracana, defeating Lionel Messi and Argentina by 1-0 in the final. The German women’s team won an Olympic gold medal there this week and the German men were seeking gold of their own Saturday.
Mauro Betig, a commentator and reporter for Fox Sports Brasil, said before the tournament that Brazil’s players would start tentatively, knowing that “in every beginning of a game, every time they make a mistake, they will think, ‘It’s 7-1 coming.’”
Even if Brazil won a gold medal, Betig projected, “At the same time that the team will be running the victory lap, thinking, ‘We finally won the Olympics,’ fans in Maracana will say, ‘You’ve lost 7-1.’ Neymar, you can be the star of the Olymics, but in the World Cup you were not there.’”
Brazilian fans are like that, he said.
“Soccer fans are cruel and were most cruel on the defeat to Germany,” Betig said.
Before the tournament, the news media criticized Neymar, Brazil’s captain, for partying too much while on vacation during Copa America. And after Brazil failed to score a goal during its first two Olympic matches, some fans mocked him with “missing” posters. Others screamed “Marta!” as if they preferred the star of the Brazilian women’s team.
But fans can be as forgiving as they are cruel. Neymar scored a goal and a penalty kick on Saturday, and kept Brazil from losing its confidence. The crowd chanted his name in appreciation, and he became the first Brazilian captain to wear an Olympic gold medal around his neck.
“Brazil is five times champion of the World Cup and we had never had a gold medal before, so against any team it would have been great,” said Manoel Santos, 56, a Brazilian fan. “But, O.K., being against Germany made it that much sweeter.”
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