The football tournament at the Olympic Games in Tokyo is heating up. The matches of the second round are in progress, and already we have teams who have failed to qualify for the quarterfinals. South Africa is one of those teams. With the defeat in a crazy match against France 3:4, Bafana Bafana was left without a chance to reach one of the first two places in Group A and continue the tournament, while the Tricolors managed to keep the hope of passing in the last moments of the match.Tokyo 2020: First round derby belongs to the Brazilians, South Africa fails against the ‘Samurais’The hero was the Montpellier’s midfielder, Teji Savanier, whose shot from 15 meters in the 92nd minute found its way to the net for the final score, but the Africa’s U-23 squad will regret this game. Bafana Bafana had the penalty when the score was 0-0 but Luther Singh hit the woodwork. Still, the South Africans took the lead three times, only to see the veteran Andre-Pierre Gignac (35) leveling each time, before the second of the three overaged players for France scoring the winner, which left Bafana Bafana with no points in the group.
Brazil achieved a surprising result in the 2nd round. The favorite for the gold medal played only 0:0 with the Ivory Coast. Both selections now have four points each, but more was expected in this match from the team that included Dani Alves, Douglas Luiz and Richarlison. They were certainly disturbed by a direct red card to Douglas Luiz in the 13th minute due to a foul, which was probably a bit harshly awarded after a VAR check. In the 79th minute, the Africans were also left with ten men, due to the second yellow card to Eboue Kouassi, but the result didn’t change until the end. The first victory in the tournament was recorded by Argentina, who defeated Egypt 1:0 with a goal by Facundo Medina in the 52nd minute. In their attempt to pass to the quartefinals of the tournament, the Gauchos will play Spain in the last round.