Playing with 10 men for most of the game, defending champions Brazil and Cote d’Ivoire played 0-0 on Sunday in Group D of the men’s Olympic football tournament.
Brazil had a player sent off after Douglas Luiz was shown a straight red card in the 13th minute.
Cote d’Ivoire failed to take advantage and also had a player sent off on 79 minutes following Eboue Kouassi receiving a second yellow card.
The Brazilians won their Group D opener over Germany 4-2 with Everton forward Richarlison scoring a hat trick.
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In their opening game Cote d’Ivoire also opened their campaign with a 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia.
Brazil will take on Saudi Arabia in their final group game while Cote d’Ivoire will face Germany.
In Group A, a last-gasp winner from Teji Savanier earned France a remarkable 4-3 comeback win against South Africa.
After a goalless first half, Kobamelo Kodisang’s goal put South Africa in front in the 53rd minute.
Andre-Pierre Gignac, aged 35, levelled up with his first goal of the match four minutes later.
Evidence Makgopa put South Africa back in front on 72 minutes but Gignac again equalised with 12 minutes remaining.
Teboho Mokoena then put South Africa ahead for a third time in the 81st minute before Gignac converted from the penalty spot in the 86th before Savanier’s late winner.
South Africa have now lost two of their group games while France bounced back from their 4-1 loss to Mexico.
And Africa’s third representative Egypt lost 1-0 to Argentina in Group C.
3 Comments
Painful, painful defeat for SA today against France. A game SA could have won with good game management ends in defeat, with France grabbing the equalizer and the winner in the last few minutes of the game.
Game management has always been a problem in SA football. Much like Nigeria, they struggle to hold on to leads, and often lose from winning positions. They had no business losing today against a mediocre French team.
Bobby the Zulu warrior has been very quiet of late. Not his usual noisy self.
The 2 SA defeats so far at the Olympics must be hitting him really hard. As quiet as a church mouse. Not even a squeak.
Bobby, where art thou?
They will come home as usual. At least they were there to make up the number. Do you really expect them to do wonders?. Please, give me a brake.