After a 0-0 draw during the game and after the extra time, the host –Brazil – and Sweden women progressed to the final crucial stage that would determine who would play in the finals as both look fit to lift Women’s’ football trophy.
And it was Sweden girls who advanced to the gold medal match in women’s soccer, for the first time, by beating host Brazil 4-3 in a penalty shootout.
Dahlkvist who scored the determinant penalty said she just pretended all those Brazilians were cheering for Sweden, and then she stepped up and buried her penalty kick to eliminate the host country and send the Swedes to the Olympic soccer final.
“The noise was for me, to get the ball in the goal. Simple answer,” Dahlkvist said, laughing while describing how she tuned out the din at the nearly full stadium.
It was the second time Dahlkvist had come through under pressure on penalties: Her kick ousted the favoured U.S. women in the quarter-finals.
The fans at the 78,000-seat Maracana roared whenever Marta touched the ball. Brazil’s charismatic forward won FIFA’s women’s world player of the year five consecutive years from 2006-10. But she has never won a major international tournament with her national team.
“This loss won’t take away from all that we have done to get here,” Marta said. “We have the match for the bronze medal now and we will fight until the end to get that medal. We have to pick up the pieces to try to win this medal.”