Mir shines as Spain overcome Ivory Coast, move into semi-finals

MIYAGI: Substitute Rafa Mir hit a hat-trick as Spain finally saw off Ivory Coast 5-2 in extra time in the Tokyo Olympics men’s football on Saturday to set up a semi-final with hosts Japan.

Brazil defeated Egypt 1-0 thanks to a first-half strike by Matheus Cunha and will play Mexico in the other last-four clash. Both matches are on Tuesday.

“We had to take advantage of the few opportunities we had,” Brazil coach Andre Jardine said. “We know from now on there won’t be any more high scores for the rest of the tournament.”

The Spaniards are one of the gold medal favourites ater naming a strong squad featuring six members of the team that reached the Euro 2020 semi-finals.

But they suffered a major fright before reaching the last four at the pandemic-delayed Games, even if the scoreline suggested otherwise.

Spain were just minutes from going out when forward Max Gradel’s deflected strike made it 2-1 to the Ivorians in the 91st minute of normal time.

Butthespaniardsrespondedalmostimmediately, Wolves forward Mir lashing in from close range to force extra time, just a minute ater coming on.

Manchester United defender Eric Bailly then conceded a penalty for handball ater the intervention of VAR, with Mikel Oyarzabal stroking the ball in for a 3-2 Spain lead in the 98th minute.

Mir struck twice in the dying minutes to put extra gloss on the scoreline and claim the match ball for himself.

“Things got difficult for a while in the match,” Mir said through a translator. “But I think at the end of the night we were all rowing the boat in the same direction. Everybody was plugged in completely and we are all working toward the same goal of bringing a medal home.”

Japan’s quarter-final with New Zealand was a far tighter affair with the score deadlocked at 0-0 ater 120 cagey minutes. New Zealand had only two shots on target all match.

The hosts kept their nerve in the penalty shootout and the Kiwis missed twice from the spot, sending Japan through 4-2 on penalties.

Rampant Mexico stormed past South Korea 6-3 in a quarter-final goalfest to set up a date with Brazil, the reigning Olympic champions.

Henry Martin and Sebastian Cordova both scored twice for the Mexicans.