Argentina end defending champions Brazil’s hopes for Paris Olympics 2024 qualifications

The Paris Olympics 2024 has been dealt with a major blow on Sunday. Defending Champions Brazil were knocked out of the reckoning by their arch-rivals Argentina. Luciano Gondou scored the only goal of the game to confirm Argentina’s path into the main draw. 

Former mid-fielder Javier Mascherano and his side played gritty football to achieve the result. The final result meant that the Brazilian football team would not take part in the summer games for the first in two decades. 

Argentina themselves have won the Gold Medal twice during the 2004 and 2008 events in Athens and Beijing. It is yet another feather in the Argentine team’s cap as they are the defending World Cup champions. 

Argentina shows joy after knocking out Brazil 

Luciano Gondou was thrilled to bits after Argentina beat the Brazilian football team 1-0 to knock them out of Paris 2024. The 1-0 win meant that Paraguay and Argentina qualified from the South American region. 

Speaking at the end of the game, the youngster said “We deserved this. We didn’t lose a single game in the qualifying. We suffered, we waited for this goal, but in the end got it”. When the final whistle was heard there were massive celebrations in the Argentina camp on the sidelines. Brazilian player Andre Santos said, “It is a very bad feeling, we prepared well for this. We struggled to keep the ball throughout the tournament. It didn’t go as we expected”. The last two times Argentina won the gold medal one certain Lionel Messi was the captain. 

Meanwhile, reports are emerging that Neymar is on his way back to his boyhood club Santos FC. The president of the Santos FC said “The conversation was very brief, but sometimes quick conversations are the most effective”. Santos was the club Neymar began his football journey before moving to join FC Barcelona in Spain. 

The 32-year-old has been out of football for a while after suffering a nasty injury. Neymar ended his deal with Paris Saint Germain and moved to AL Hilal. It hasn’t been a great ride so far for the talented Brazilian player. Speaking to the media, Santos' President also said “To play here, he needs to recover well. He will continue his experience there and then come” 

Neymar has often been seen partying and clubbing after matches. He has also been seen in casinos and apostas em jogos de futebol no Brasil.