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Evening Ticker: Brazil reaches Olympic final, Suarez signs long-term deal & more

Damiao (Reuters Pictures)

The gold medal favorites are within one win of fulfilling their lofty expectations.

Brazil's men's Olympic team got two goals from Leandro Damiao and escaped a controversial no-call on a penalty shout to rout South Korea 3-0 and advance to the Olympic gold medal match against Mexico.

Romulo put the Brazilians ahead in the 38th minute, taking a feed from Oscar in transition and beating goalkeeper Beom-Young Lee to the near post. South Korea thought it had a chance to equalize early in the second half, when Bo-Kyung Kim was tripped by Sandro in the box, but referee Pavel Kralovec kept his whistle silent and let play continue.

Leandro Damiao completely tilted the scales back in Brazil's favor soon after, finishing off a cut-back pass from Neymar that was dummied by Marcelo in the 57th minute before capping the scoring seven minutes later. With six goals, the Internacional striker is the leader in the race for the golden boot, having scored in four of Brazil's five matches. As a team, Brazil has scored three goals in every game during this tournament.

South Korea will face Japan in an all-Asian bronze medal match on Friday at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Here are a couple of more items from around the soccer world:

SUAREZ SIGNS LIVERPOOL EXTENSION

Any speculation of Luis Suarez leaving Liverpool for Juventus is officially dead, as the mercurial striker has committed his future to the Reds.

Despite rampant reports suggesting that Suarez' time at Anfield was nearing its end, he signed a long-term contract extension with Liverpool Tuesday after returning to training on the heels of his appearance for Uruguay at the Olympics. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"To sign a new contract with Liverpool is unbelievable for me because I am so happy here at both the club and also in the city," Suarez told the club's official website. "That is important for me and I am very happy with my new contract. When you are a kid, everybody wants to play for Liverpool. I am here now and it is a dream for me, and now I am a Liverpool fan."

RANGERS WIN CUP MATCH

Two games for the new Rangers, two wins.

The embattled Scottish club defeated East Fife in a League Cup first-round match Tuesday, with Carlos Bocanegra playing 90 minutes in the 4-0 victory that took place in front of more than 38,000 fans at Ibrox Stadium. The win comes on the heels of a Ramsdens Cup victory at the end of July.

As manager Ally McCoist had stated earlier, Maurice Edu and Alejandro Bedoya were left off the gameday roster entirely for Rangers, as they have both made it clear to McCoist that they want out of the team ahead of its foray into the fourth tier of Scottish soccer.

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What did you think of Brazil's performance? Do you see Brazil or Mexico winning the gold? Are you happy that Suarez is sticking with Liverpool? Do you think he will thrive under manager Brendan Rodgers? What do you think of Rangers' early success?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. agreed – whereas, the 3rd place world cup match is irrevelant, the bronze medal game is just as important as the final because the loser doesn’t get anything.

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  2. Pulling for Mexico. Love watching Brazil lose. I cannot deny their talent, but i’m tired of commentators fawning over them. And when they lose or start to lose, they’re classless losers….mostly be/c they don’t know how to be losers.

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  3. No European teams make it to the final four of Olympic soccer. Could this be the beginning of a shift in where the best international soccer teams play?

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  4. There were quite a few bad calls/no calls by the officials in these Olympic games but it seemed to me that Brazil benefited the most out of any team on getting no calls against them, specially for some diving, Neymar definitely should have competed in the diving tournament, he would have won gold.

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  5. 1st missed penalty brazil player kicked a south Korean in the head while clearing the ball. The brazilians foot was very high. Clearly a dangerous play, and should have been called.

    2nd missed call a Korean was clearly brought down by a Brazilian inside the penalty area.

    I was pretty disgusted with the ref, and I’m a neutral party.

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  6. I for one am actually gna go for Mexico. I always put our Region first in international tournaments, so if USA is not playing, then whatever team from our region has the best shot of winning, thats who i’ll root for

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  7. Or you can do what I do and hope for broken legs and red cards all around.

    Japan vs. Korea is the game to watch. Then USA vs. Japan (Women’s)

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  8. Japan v Korea should be a good one. This is Asia’s USA Mexico rivalry so you can bet both will be going for it. Japan have to be favorites though the red devils are my Asian team of choice. I can’t believe I have to root for brazil. I will actually be rooting for a meteor or a double doping scandal.

    Reply

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