Egypt loses to Brazil and Japan, Spain and Mexico qualify for the football semifinals

TOKYO: Egypt lost 1-0 to Brazil in the Olympic football tournament in the quarter-finals on Saturday, as the hosts Japan showed iron nerves to lead their country to a 4-2 victory over New Zealand on penalties and reach the semifinal. the final. Spain escaped stalemate and won 5-2 over Côte d’Ivoire after extra time to reserve their seat in semifinal. After 0-0 at the end of regulation and extra time at Ibaraki Kashima Stadium, goalkeeper Kuse Tani saved New Zealander Liberato Kakachi’s penalty attempt and midfielder Clayton Lewis knocked out his attempt over the crossbar. Captain Maya Yoshida scored the fourth shot to secure a spot in semifinal for Japan for the first time since the 2012 London Olympics. Only Japan to have obtained a record perfect in the group stage is now one win from securing their first men’s soccer medal since taking bronze at the 1968 Olympics. Japan will meet in semifinal with Spain, who ended a wait of 21 years to reach the semifinals with a big win over the Ivory Coast. “We wanted to score in the original half, but New Zealand are a good team and gave us a difficult game,” Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu told reporters. “It will be a difficult match in semifinal, but we will unite and fight to the last breath and try to reach the final “, he added. in Brazil’s charge provided enough to beat Egypt thanks to a first-half goal from Mateus Konia. And Brazil plays in semifinal with Mexico, gold medal in 2012, which presented a brilliant offensive performance to crush South Korea 6-3 in Yokohama. Midfielder Sebastian Cordova and striker Henry Martin scored two goals, while Eduardo Aguirre and Luis Romo also scored, sending Mexico a warning to his rivals as the competition neared its end. Spain, the last European nation to win gold in men’s football in 1992, fled a stalemate against Ivory Coast after substitute Rafa Mir scored three goals in the final minutes at Miyagi Stadium. It looked like winger Max Gradel had given Côte d’Ivoire a ticket to the semi-finals when he scored a 2-1 lead in the closing seconds of regulation time before Mir instantly leveled the score and imposed extra time. The chance to climb the Ivory Coast vanished when his defender Eric Payey, who scored the first goal, scored a penalty with a strange touch of his hand inside thearea penalty of his team. Mikel Oyarzabal scored a goal from a penalty in the 98th minute, before Mir added two more goals to secure his side’s victory. With this victory, Spain returns in semifinal for the first time since winning silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. (Reuters)

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