Australia were the weaker side to the Germans on paper and also on the park. It was just so incredibly painful to watch the Matildas string passes to each other and pressing forward was just so incredibly frustrating. I wanted to pull my hair out from the sheer frustration I was witnessing in front of my eyes at the new Corinthians stadium on the outskirts of greater Sao Paulo. The stadium is a very well constructed venue and very flash for a football club that gears itself as "a club for the people". An example the stairs have marble slating and have expensive tiling in the vestibules at the back of the grand stands.
Australia despite being out-played took the lead through a fantastic strike and pass to catch the Germans wrong footed to stun the small German contingent and the throngs of Brazilian football fans went into a huge roar as the non-fancied Australians took the lead. However it didn't last long and the Germans within the final moments of the first half drew level after the Australians were caught napping. They were usually caught on the back foot but were able to get out of trouble through great goalkeeping or by the Germans just misfiring when they took a shot on goal.
Second half was more or less the same as the first with the Australians really trying to take advantage of the Germans on the counter but were severely poor in finishing when they had the opportunities to go further ahead. However they'd id manage to find their second goal from a fantastic strike which stunned the Brazilian crowd and myself also. However all hands were on deck as they were fighting an eventual losing battle to keep the German tide out and they within the last few minutes they squared the game with a second goal. Germany and Australia ran out 2-2 in the end.
As the food and drink it was reasonably priced for the Olympics in Brazil. It was widely criticised in Brazil about the price for drink and food at the venues. I can totally understand as Brazil is a developing nation on a whole where there is now a rising middle class who have been elevated from levels of poverty which is fantastic but people's wallets can only go so far. Skol was for 13 reais ($5.50), Not a bad beer but certainly a good beer to have when you are out at the game and it is an easy beer to drink.
The ice-creams were rock solid. I am not kidding! They were ice cold and hard but the chocolate and vanilla ice cream was very nice. They were at 10 reais or about 4.50 dollars and not cheap for Brazilians. Cool drink was around the 8 reais mark which is roughly 3 dollars and 30 cents. There was huge uproar about the food being (for me) similar to Australian stadium prices which even we are a bit uncomfortable about, this is outrageous for Brazilian sporting fans. I had to go easy on the beers, ice creams and burgers (they were around 6 dollars which is about 15 reais) as it was burning a bit of a hole in my finances and I was on a limited budget for my revised trip to Brazil.
Well my first Olympics experience in my life at the Rio games and would I do it again? I don't know it is hard to say but it sure was very entertaining and a fun time to be in Brazil.
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