Brazil reaches Olympic soccer finals in London

Brazil now has eight medals at the London Olympic Games: two gold (judo and gymnastics),one silver and five bronze. The country is in 23rd place on the medal table.

The really good news for this mega-soccer-crazy country is that Brazil will play for the gold medal on Saturday against Mexico. The Olympic gold medal in soccer is one of the very few soccer prizes Brazil has never won and it is a kind of nagging irritation. In fact, the country’s participation in Olympic soccer competitions has been so disastrous that this will be the first time in 24 years that Brazil is in the Olympic soccer final (Brazil lost the final twice, winning silver in 1984 and 1988; and won bronze in 1996 and 2008).

In other Olympic news, Brazil is in the women’s volleyball semifinal where they will play Japan. The girls won a thriller against Russia, 3 sets to 2. In men’s beach volleyball, Alison and Emanuel will play the final and that means they have at least a silver medal guaranteed.