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Germany beat Fiji 10-0 to set up quarterfinal with Portugal

The dream of an Olympic medal is still alive. The Germany Olympic squad stormed into the quarterfinals at Rio 2016 with a 10-0 win over Fiji in their final Group C match in Belo Horizonte. Horst Hrubesch’s team will face Portugal in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 18:00 CEST.

The outstanding Nils Petersen (five goals), captain Max Meyer (three) and Serge Gnabry, who scored his fourth and fifth goals of the tournament, got on the scoresheet, as Germany recorded their second biggest margin of victory in the history of the Olympic Games and their first in 28 years. The only bigger victory was 16-0 against Russia in 1912.

One sided encounter in Belo Horizonte

South Korea won the other match in Group C 1-0 against defending champions Mexico, meaning that Germany finished second in the group and will head to Brasilia for a quarterfinal clash with one of the favourites, Portugal. The European Champion’s young talents suffered a 5-0 defeat against the Germans in the semi-finals of the European U21 Championship last year.

The 15,000 spectators in the Mineirao stadium saw a one sided encounter as expected. Nevertheless, the fans were clearly rooting for the footballing minnows from the South Pacific. Serge Gnabry set Germany on their way, building on his goals from the draws against Mexico (2-2) and South Korea (3-3).by opening the scoring. Freiburg striker Petersen increased the lead with a poacher’s goal a little later after making his first start of the tournament due to the team’s need for goals galore from the outset. Despite Fiji putting together a few good moves on occasion, almost all of the action took place in their own half.

Meyer stands in for Goretzka as captain again

Leon Goretzka (shoulder sprain) was once again replaced as captain by his Schalke team mate Max Meyer, who put himself on the scoresheet, before Petersen finished twice more to make it 5-0 to Germany, making their progress to the quarterfinals as good as secure. Gnabry then fired in from a free-kick to give Germany a 6-0 lead at the break.

Fiji goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau, who is a police officer by day, received the biggest cheer of the night when he kept out Max Meyer’s penalty in the 58th minute. Former Bayern player Petersen was to make no mistake later on though, as he converted the second spot kick of the night before capping off the result with a header. created by mmc/ma


The dream of an Olympic medal is still alive. The Germany Olympic squad stormed into the quarterfinals at Rio 2016 with a 10-0 win over Fiji in their final Group C match in Belo Horizonte. Horst Hrubesch’s team will face Portugal in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 18:00 CEST.

The outstanding Nils Petersen (five goals), captain Max Meyer (three) and Serge Gnabry, who scored his fourth and fifth goals of the tournament, got on the scoresheet, as Germany recorded their second biggest margin of victory in the history of the Olympic Games and their first in 28 years. The only bigger victory was 16-0 against Russia in 1912.

One sided encounter in Belo Horizonte

South Korea won the other match in Group C 1-0 against defending champions Mexico, meaning that Germany finished second in the group and will head to Brasilia for a quarterfinal clash with one of the favourites, Portugal. The European Champion’s young talents suffered a 5-0 defeat against the Germans in the semi-finals of the European U21 Championship last year.

The 15,000 spectators in the Mineirao stadium saw a one sided encounter as expected. Nevertheless, the fans were clearly rooting for the footballing minnows from the South Pacific. Serge Gnabry set Germany on their way, building on his goals from the draws against Mexico (2-2) and South Korea (3-3).by opening the scoring. Freiburg striker Petersen increased the lead with a poacher’s goal a little later after making his first start of the tournament due to the team’s need for goals galore from the outset. Despite Fiji putting together a few good moves on occasion, almost all of the action took place in their own half.

Meyer stands in for Goretzka as captain again

Leon Goretzka (shoulder sprain) was once again replaced as captain by his Schalke team mate Max Meyer, who put himself on the scoresheet, before Petersen finished twice more to make it 5-0 to Germany, making their progress to the quarterfinals as good as secure. Gnabry then fired in from a free-kick to give Germany a 6-0 lead at the break.

Fiji goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau, who is a police officer by day, received the biggest cheer of the night when he kept out Max Meyer’s penalty in the 58th minute. Former Bayern player Petersen was to make no mistake later on though, as he converted the second spot kick of the night before capping off the result with a header.