OS Beijing 2008 Paralympics Olympics Pekin

For the crowds and TV viewers, 96 minutes of anticipation and mental strain were needed to hear the final whistle and see the winner of this football carnival! As for the players, it was definitely the longest minutes of their lives, thus the greatest feeling ever for the Americans who won again in Olympics, beating Brazil by 1 goal after 6 minutes from the additional period.

The 1^st 30 minute of the match illustrated the intense fear and respect shared among the 2 poles of the game, with 22 ladies fighting for every ball and a crowded defensive area at each side of the field. What started like an American domination was terminated by a parade of skills from Marta and Cristianne, who made the Yankees get into a very stressful 20 minutes. Luckily, the score was 0 to 0 at the break and no damage was made.

USA’s won 3 Football gold medals in 4 Olympics; 2 rewards in a row (Beijing’s2008- Athens2004)

FIFA’s best player of the year, Marta, was closely guarded and insistently double teamed with every ball possession, in order to paralyze the master Samba’s key to success. German policy of bugging Marta was a good placed bet to keep her away from scoring.

Both teams proved to earn a final game, and went into over time; another chance to end the game before the penalty lucky kicks. Extra time is an advantage to the North Americans who proved to have a better physical endurance in the last minutes. Carli Lloyd put the surplus of power and energy into action and stroke Brazil’s web (96th minute) with the most precious goal in Beijing’s Olympics.

Simply, it was gold worthy goal, and that’s all what mattered in fact for the BACK to BACK champions. As for the Samba girls, a nation’s bidding on them to achieve what the men’s team couldn’t do failed again; Beijing’s a disaster for Brazilian football, yet, a paradise for the USA.

Both sides’ coaches declared ahead of this semi-final, that errors aren’t allowed, neither betting on the opponents’ lack of luck now! Talk is cheap, what really matters are the actions!

Brazil’s massacring the Germans 4-1 is an upside down in football’s planet, a humiliation for the world champions who were totally dominated….

Nevertheless, for every consequence there’s a cause! This time, it was Pele, the legendary football player! Or shall I call her Marta?

The FIFA woman best player of the year, newly surnamed as females’ Pele, and orchestra’s chief, was the architect behind all the Brazilian sketches against the Deutschland

Despite a European strong start, a close defense on Marta and a goal by Birgit Prinz in 10^th minute, the samba girls were nothing but offended, and suddenly… somewhat set them ON! Green light for the yellow jerseys, who responded to the USA’s domination in the first twenty minutes, by a series of attacks where Marta’s intention was to be a magnet for the German defense and pulling them towards her, keeping a team mate free to advance… Germans fell for the trick, and Marta passed a decisive ball to Formiga who settled the score (49^th minute) sending her team into a relaxing break!

What came after the half was twice as good as the 1^st shift of the game. Brazil’s reputation of thrilling the crowds came true once again when Cristianne scored the 2^nd for the canaries.

It was clear that Brazil was full of class and creativity. What else can u expect when you have a Marta and a Cristianne on the field? Germans could do nothing but watch the Brazilians dance and enjoy their times… a joy that was enormous with Marta’s third Goal (53^rd minute) and Cristianne’s extra dot (76^th minute) in a counter attack launched by Marta.

Brazil’s now so close to gold, and plays the winner of USA Vs Japan, while Germans travel to Beijing in a trial to collect bronze.

Brazil’s dynamic triple-act Cristianne, Daniela and Marta were up to the level in the game against Norway that’s coming out of a huge defeat against Japan by 5 goals to 1. Between the personal skills of samba girls, and the tactical capabilities of Norway’s ladies, this game was definitely a great mixture of 2 different football schools, and a pleasure for the crowds in Tianjin Olympic Sports Center Stadium.

Marta is considered as the world best football woman ever, with just 22 years of age, and is leading her team along with Daniela who gave the lead to the yellows in the 1st minute after the restart (45^th minute).

The world’s phenomenon, Marta, added the 2^nd goal(57^th minute), to put brazil in a comfortable lead, after missing a bright chance to extend the lead, sending Cristianne’s passed ball over the bar.

Norway’s team wasn’t willing to give up, and formed a series of attacks towards the Brazilian goal despite being obliged to return for defense, betting mostly on counter attacks. Conservative tactic paid off in the last 10 minutes of the game, as their bet paid of: an earned penalty kick was transformed into a Norwegian goal in the 82^nd minute by Siri Nordby coming off the bench and hitting the Scandinavians only goal.

Marta and friends are moving up on the scale, and impatiently waiting for their opponent in the final 4.

Auriverde’s strong determination is crystal clear on the field, unwilling to bet except on gold. Odds of witnessing a HOT final 4 are really high, with the best teams of Beijing’s Olympics starting to face each others.

Marta, woman football player of the year led the samba girls into a win against Korea, 2 goals to 1 in a very spectacular game. Daniella scored the leading goal, after a bad ball clearance from the Chinese goal keeper (14^th minute) and Marta added the insurance 2^nd goal 9 minutes later. Ri Kum Suk, scored to reduce the score, during injury time.

Brazil and USA (Olympic champions) qualified for the next round earning 7 points each from 2 wins and a single draw.

Brazil will face Norway   on the 15^th of August in the quarter finals. Either a part of the crowd in the stadium, or watching it on TV, it definitely is a match to be seen. Both teams are talented, are very technical offensively, and in middle field: a controlling battle will be witnessed!