Olympics

Brazil’s Olympic footballing dream received a massive lift on Saturday. Following the women’s dramatic shootout victory over Australia on Friday, Brazil’s men followed the example of Marta and company to reach the semi-finals of their own competition.

Having struggled through group play with draws against Iraq and South Africa, Neymar and his teammates sprung to life with devastating efficiency against continental rivals Colombia.

The big kick off is here, and, wouldn’t you know it, the stars have aligned in the perfect manner for fans wanting to do nothing but watch football all weekend.

It’s as if Premier League, Liga MX, MLS, Olympic, Bundesliga and La Liga representatives all got together and did this for us. Head to the store tonight, grab all the sustenance you need to survive Saturday and Sunday, and bunker down.

Football is back.

In defense of Hope Solo, her comments about the USA’s loss to Sweden have come in the heat of the moment — fresh off a devastating defeat, it’s understandable that she’s completely lost the plot.

Alright, that’s enough of defending Hope Solo.

The United States women’s national team clawed their way back into their quarter-final match against Sweden, but were unable to find a winner in 120 minutes of action. The lottery of penalties ultimately doomed the four-time gold medalists.

It was the first penalty shootout in the history of women’s soccer at the Olympics, and the USWNT were unable to conquer their nerves as Sweden emerged victorious, 4-3.

The Honduran under-23 side has achieved the previously unthinkable in advancing from Olympic group play over favorites Argentina and Algeria. On Wednesday, Honduras overcame alleged racism by Argentina to claim a vital draw against the South American giants.

Honduran striker Anthony Lozano gave his side the lead with a 75th minute penalty and celebrated by holding his finger to his lips.

After the match, he explained his actions: “I went to shut up an Argentine who made racist comments and I didn’t like it. That’s why I made the ‘silence’ [gesture] after the goal.

When Brazilian under-23 coach Rogerio Micale suggested that Neymar could one day quit the Brazilian national team due to a lack of respect, the parallels that could be drawn with Lionel Messi’s treatment and subsequent retirement from Argentina’s setup were almost too self-evident. 

Mexico's gole medal defense is finished after a 1-0 loss to South Korea eliminated El Tri. Mexico needed to either win outright or tie and have Germany beat Fiji by less than four goals.

Instead, this happened:

South Korea holds on against Mexico they will go through and win their division. Lead 1-0. pic.twitter.com/ABGQlfG30K

— Mo Tafolla (@MoTafolla) August 10, 2016

The USWNT drew 2-2 against Colombia to top Group G in Manaus on Tuesday. Goals from Crystal Dunn and Mallory Pugh for the U.S. were cancelled out by two free kicks from Maria Catalina Usme, one of which was the result of an error by U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo.

Neymar and Brazil's men have been so bad in the Olympics that Neymar has reportedly been stripped of the Brazil captainship. Fortunately, Marta and Brazil's women are here to save the day, so much so that fans have started turning Neymar jerseys into Marta jerseys.

The Olympics are officially underway and the US is expected to win medals in several events, but there are two teams representing the US that may be disappointed with anything short of gold. The US Women's National Soccer Team and the US Men's Basketball Team are both ranked number one in their respective events and are the overall favorites to win, but which does one have more pressure to bring home gold than the other?