Richarlison shines for Brazil to begin the 2020 Olympic men’s soccer tournament

Soccer: South American Showdown-Peru at Brazil

The Olympic men’s soccer tournament is now underway at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. On Thursday, the definite star was Brazil’s Richarlison, who delivered a hat trick in an impressive 4-2 win over Germany.

Richarlison, who is a 24-year-old winger for Everton, scored in the seventh, 22nd, and 30th minutes. Brazil’s other goal scorer was Paulinho, who scored in the 95th minute (the fifth minute of extra time in the second half). You may wonder why Richarlison is allowed to play in the Olympic men’s soccer tournament when the tournament is for players who are 23 years of age or younger and Richarlison is 24. That is because each team is allowed three players who are older than 23.

Richarlison was the only men’s player to record a hat trick in Olympic action on Thursday. However, two women’s soccer players each had a hat trick in the same game on Wednesday. In a remarkable 10-3 win by Netherlands over Zambia, Vivianne Miedema of Hoogeveen scored four times for the Netherlands, while Barbra Banda of Lusaka, Zambia had three goals for Zambia.

The 10 goals scored by the Netherlands on Wednesday were the most goals scored by a single team in an Olympic women’s soccer game all-time according to Ben Church and Aleks Klosok of CNN. The previous Olympic record for most goals in an Olympic women’s soccer game was eight, which was set by Germany in an 8-0 win over China on August 11, 2004, at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The most goals scored in an Olympic men’s soccer game was set by Denmark in a 17-1 win over France at the 1908 Olympic Games in London. In the win, Sophus Nielsen of Copenhagen scored a remarkable 10 times for Denmark, which is also tied for the Olympic men’s record for most goals scored in a single game. Gottfried Fuchs of Germany scored 10 times in a 16-0 Germany consolation win over Russia at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm.

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