Olympics Men’s football quarter-final roundup: Spain, Japan, Brazil and Mexico into the semi-finals

Rafa Mir of Spain scored hattrick against Cote d Ivoire in quarterfinal-Tokyo Olympic
Rafa Mir of Spain scored hattrick against Cote d Ivoire in quarterfinal-Tokyo Olympic - IMAGO / Xinhua

SpainJapanBrazil and Mexico booked their place in the semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday.

Holders Brazil will be hoping to go all the way once again, and the hosts will also fancy their chances of striking gold this summer.

Semi finals of Men's Olympic Football Tournament:
Brazil vs Mexico
Japan vs Spain

Spain 5-2 Ivory Coast

Spain were the first team to go through to the semi-finals after an extra-time win against the African outfit.

Ivory Coast opened the scoring through Eric Bailly on the 10th minute, but Spain scored the leveller through Dani Olmo around the 30th-minute mark.

Max Gradel scored on the 90+1 minute, and It looked like it would be the winner for Ivory Coast. But Spain fought back remarkably, and Rafa Mir levelled at 2-2 during injury time. Then he went on to score a hat-trick during extra-time to take it all away from the Ivorians.

Oyarzabal chipped in with a goal for Spain as well from a penalty kick during extra-time.

Japan 0-0 New Zealand (4-2 pens)

Japan went through to the final four after winning a penalty shootout against New Zealand.

 The two sides struggled to find a way past each other’s defence in normal time and then in extra time, but Kosei Tani produced an impressive performance during the shootout to send the hosts into the semis.

Brazil 1-0 Egypt

The holders needed just a single goal to book their place in the final four.

Matheus Cunha produced an impeccable finish to score the winner for his country, and the top scorer of the tournament, Richarlison was the provider.

South Korea 3-6 Mexico

Mexico opened the scoring in the most eventful clash of the quarter-finals, and they were unplayable after the break.

Henry Martin, Luis Romo, Francisco Cordova and Eduardo Aguirre were all on the score sheet for Mexico. Meanwhile, Lee Dong-Gyeong and Hwang Ui-Jo scored for South Korea.