Richarlison's hat-trick, Argentina's sensational failure and the crushing defeat of the United States: how the football tournament started at the Games

Brazil's victorious start and Argentina's disaster

The most intriguing match of the first round of the men's soccer tournament was the meeting between Brazil and Germany. Five years ago, the same teams played in the final of the Olympics, and then its owners won their first gold in a penalty shootout. The next round of their confrontation was not so dramatic - the Brazilians celebrated a landslide victory with a score of 4: 2.

The hero of the meeting was Richarlison, who came to Japan after the failure of his team in the America's Cup. The Everton striker scored a hat-trick in the first half hour of the game and became the first representative of the English Premier League to score three goals at the Olympics. At the same time, the 24-year-old footballer earned a second yellow card for the captain of the German national team Maximilian Arnold, which is why he left the field in the 63rd minute. His partners did not give up the fight and managed to close the gap to a minimum, but Paulinho, who plays for Bayer, scored another goal in the fifth added minute.

Germany went to the last place in Group D, leaving Côte d'Ivoire and Saudi Arabia ahead at the same time.

The African team celebrated the victory with a score of 2: 1.

In the first half, the Arabians scored two goals, but one of them went to someone else's goal, and the other to their own.

In the 66th minute, Milan striker Franck Kessier brought the Ivorians ahead, and his goal was the last in this match.

From Argentina, the fans expected the same confident start as from Brazil, but she was disappointed.

The South Americans suffered a sensational defeat at the hands of Australia.

The future hosts of the 2032 Olympics won 2-0 and won their first match since 2004.

The first ball flew into the goal of Jeremias Ledesma already in the 14th minute, when Lachlan Wells closed the free-kick. It is interesting that if the Olympics were held last year, he would have had to miss it - the football player was previously suspended from the national team for inappropriate behavior towards a woman. The next after him scored 19-year-old Marco Tilio, who has become the youngest goalscorer at the Olympics so far. As part of the Argentines, the forwards of the Russian Premier League Adolfo Gaich and Ezequiel Ponce entered the field, but they did not help their team to avoid defeat.

The Australians not only unexpectedly scored three points, but also surprisingly led their group C. The main favorites of the entire Olympic tournament, the Spaniards, could not beat the Egyptians and were content with a goalless draw.

Despite the fact that six bronze medalists of Euro 2020 played in the “red fury”, none of them was able to hit the goal of Mohamed el-Shenawi.

In addition, the Spaniards lost Oscar Minguez in the middle of the first half due to injury.

The defeat of France and the first success of the hosts

These were not all the setbacks that befell the medal contenders in men's soccer. France also suffered a major defeat to Mexico in its first tournament since 1996. At the end of the first half, the score in their match was not opened, but then four balls from different players flew into the gate of Paul Bernardoni. The French responded only with a penalty kick by André-Pierre Gignac, who plays for the Mexican UANL.

Together with the North Americans, Japan is also in the lead in Group A. The hosts of the Olympics beat the South African national team, which had two cases of coronavirus infection shortly before the tournament. The Africans were still allowed to play after 17 players passed negative tests six hours before the starting whistle. They defended for a long time and beat off the attacks of the Japanese, until in the 71st minute the game was taken into their own hands by the football player of Real Madrid Takefusa Kubo.

Romania was the only European team to score three points in the first round.

Her soccer team returned to the Olympics 57 years later and immediately beat Honduras, who finished fourth in 2016.

The outcome of the match was determined by a corner kick, played at the gate of the Americans in time added to the first half.

After the filing of Andrei Ciobanu, Elvin Oliva straightened the ball into his own goal and chalked up his own goal.

The Romanians now have a high chance of making the playoffs, as they unexpectedly share the lead with New Zealand in their Group B.

The Oceans won their first ever Olympic victory, beating South Korea.

This match also ended with a minimum score.

Three points were brought to the New Zealanders by their leader Chris Wood, representing Burnley.

Lost USA and 13 goals in one match

The women's soccer tournament began with a resounding sensation.

Team USA, which won the last two world championships and were not inferior in the last 44 matches, were defeated by Sweden with a score of 0: 3.

For American girls, it is Scandinavians who are the most fundamental rival.

Five years ago, the Swedes beat them in the quarterfinals of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, not allowing them to win a fifth consecutive gold.

And this spring, the two teams tied, ending a 16-game US winning streak.

Vlatko Andronovski's wards hoped to take revenge in Tokyo, but already at the end of the first half, it became clear that it would be extremely difficult to do this.

The Americans lost it with a score of 0: 1, and lagged behind 1: 6 in shots on target.

Two substitutions during the break did not help to rectify the situation. Despite the fact that the Swedes played without their main defender Magdalena Eriksson, they never conceded a single return goal, and scored two more themselves - Stina Blakstenius scored a double, and Liina Hurtig scored after coming on as a substitute. The United States suffered its first crushing defeat since March 2017 and must now try to make it to the playoffs. In another match of their group, Australia beat New Zealand 2-1 in the ocean derby.

A far more sensitive setback was the Zambia national team.

The Netherlands defeated her 10-3 in the most productive match in the history of women's Olympic football.

Before that, no football players had scored more than eight goals in a single game.

For both teams, it was a debut at a competition of this level, but only for the Dutch, it turned out to be successful.

As part of the current vice-champions of the world, four goals were scored by Vivianne Miedema - the top scorer in the history of the women's championship in England.

For this, less than an hour of playing time was enough for her.

Midema became the second ever female footballer to win poker at the Olympics.

She was adequately answered by the Zambian Barbra Banda.

She scored all three goals for her team and followed Midema in the goal-scoring race.

In the same group where the Netherlands and Zambia play, another super-productive match took place. Brazil defeated China with five unanswered goals. In this game, several South American women have shown incredible achievements. The striker Martha, who was named the best player of the year six times, scored two goals and became the first athlete in history to have goals in five consecutive Olympics. With this success, she was even congratulated by the greatest Brazilian striker Pele. And 43-year-old Formiga became the oldest football player in the history of the Olympic Games. For her, this is already the seventh attempt to win gold, she has not yet missed a single tournament since women's football entered the program.

Meetings in Group E turned out to be not so rich in goals. Britain beat Chile 2-0 in the first leg of the Tokyo Olympics. As part of the European team, Ellen White scored a double, despite the fact that another of her goals was canceled due to an offside position.

Canada and Japan were the only pair of the first round to share points. The North American kicked off with Christine Sinclair, the 38-year-old striker in her 300th international appearance and scoring 187th goal, cementing her lead among the top scorers in football history. In the second half, there was a rather dramatic episode - Canadian goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe stopped Mina Tanaka in violation of the rules and was injured, due to which the game was stopped for several minutes. Labbe found the strength to stay on the penalty kick and deflected it, after which she still left the field. Her replacement, Kailin Sheridan, could not leave the gate intact. In the 84th minute, she missed a long-range strike performed by Manna Iwabuti, after which the score was 1: 1.