Rio 2016: Germany to face Brazil in Olympic football final after 2-0 win over Nigeria

Early winner: Lukas Klostermann
MIGUEL SCHINCARIOL/AFP/Getty Images
Vaishali Bhardwaj17 August 2016

Germany will play hosts Brazil in the 2016 Olympics football final after the team secured a 2-0 win over Nigeria on Wednesday evening.

Both teams began the game knowing that should they secure a win at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo they would face the Selecao in the final after Neymar's two goals and two assists inspired Brazil to a 6-0 thrashing of Honduras earlier in the day.

The Barcelona star's opener came after just 15 seconds - becoming the Olympics' fastest-ever goal in the process - and Germany seemingly took note of that after Lukas Klostermann handed his side a 1-0 lead in just the ninth minute.

The move that led to the goal started from Arsenal's Serge Gnabry, whose clever pass into the area was latched upon by Max Meyer before he squared to Klostermann, who tapped in from close range.

Nigeria, captained by Chelsea's Mikel John Obi, responded by nearly equalising following a mistake by Germany goalkeeper Timo Horn, but the Cologne No.1 made up for his mistake by blocking Sadiq Umar's subsequent shot.

Nigeria were lucky to keep Ndifreke Udo on the field after he delivered a reckless two-footed challenge on Gnabry, which only earned him a yellow card.

Despite Germany's dominance of the game, Nigeria had a final chance before the break to restore parity but goalscorer Klostermann made a crucial block from Aminu Umar's effort.

Germany emerged from the break and threatened to make it 2-0 through Gnabry, whose powerful shot was tipped over by Emmanuel Daniel, but they did eventually get their second when Nils Petersen scored with one minute to play.

The 2-0 win means Germany will now face Brazil in the final on Saturday, two years after thrashing the Selecao 7-1 in their World Cup semi-final match.

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