Tokyo 2020 football: Brazil thump China’s Steel Roses 5-0
- Records for Marta and Formiga as Brazilians win opening game of women’s football tournament in Rifu 5-0
- China need to beat Zambia on Saturday to stand a chance of qualifying for knockout stage
The Steel Roses, as the Chinese women’s national team are known, had not beaten Brazil in the 25 years since the semi-final of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta where they would go on to win silver, and the record goes on.
It took just eight minutes before six-time Fifa world player of the year Marta opened the scoring for Brazil, who have twice won Olympic silver, reacting first after Debinha hit the bar with a header.
Debinha then added a second halfway through the first half as she reacted to a rebound from Peng Shimeng’s save from Beatriz.
China got themselves back into the game but failed to make the pressure count and it was 2-0 at the interval.
Jia Xuquan’s side could not find a goal after the restart as they dominated possession. The closest they came was Wang Shanshan hitting the upright soon after half-time.
Japan beat Australia to finally kick off Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Brazil went further ahead thanks to a second from Marta on the 74th minute and then put an added gloss on to the win with goals from Andressa Alves from the penalty spot and Beatriz in the final stages.
The five-star performance represented good value for the limited number of fans allowed in to the Miyagi Stadium, one of the few venues to allow supporters.
Marta set a record for scoring in five consecutive Games – a record in men’s and women’s football – while teammate Formiga appeared in a seventh Olympics, a record for women’s football. Marta is now two goals behind Christiane as the record Olympic goalscorer.
China’s women qualified after beating South Korea in their Asian play-offs and the world No 15 were handed the kindest draw possible for Tokyo, missing out on the top ranked teams in each pot.
Their opening opponents Brazil – world No 7 – face the highest ranked team in the group – the world No 4 Netherlands – on Saturday.
The same day China will look to get their Olympics hope back on track against world No 104 Zambia, the lowest-ranked team in Japan.
The result means China need to win to stand a chance of going through to the next stage. The top two teams in each of the three groups and the two best third-placed teams move on to the quarter-finals.
As with the softball that started the Tokyo Games, the heat was a factor in Rifu, Miyagu prefecture, as it is expected to be across the Olympics, which officially open on Friday.
