Brazil's Neymar (right) is challenged by Marcelo Espinal of Honduras during their Men's Olympic Football Tournament semifinal on August 17, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: FIFA via Getty Images)
RIO DE JANEIRO – Neymar scored in the first and last minutes as host Brazil earned a 6-0 win over Honduras in the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament semifinals on Wednesday at the Estadio Maracana.
The result sets up a gold-medal match on Saturday between the Brazilians and Germany, which topped Nigeria, 2-0. Honduras and the Nigerians will battle for bronze the same day.
Only 15 seconds into the match, history was made when Neymar struck for the fastest goal in Olympic history. The Barcelona star intercepted Johnny Palacios on the edge of the penalty box and was tripped up by goalkeeper Luis Lopez, before putting the ball into the back of the net.
Gabriel Jesus then netted for two straight goals in the 26th and 35th minutes, respectively. He slotted home a Luan through ball and then beat defender Marcelo Pereira after taking a superb feed from Neymar to drill an effort into the top corner.
Four minutes into the second half, Marquinhos made it 4-0 off a Neymar corner.
Luan got on the scoresheet in the 79th minute, when he knocked in from close range thanks to a Felipe Anderson assist.
Neymar punctuated the scoreline by converting a penalty Brazil capped off a commanding performance with an injury-time penalty from Neymar, who found the bottom left corner.
