The Coronavirus-delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo started with a bang.
There was plenty of high quality football action on offer but it was Brazil’s Richarlison who stole the show.
Richarlison had resisted a lot of pressure from his club, Everton to skip the games.
It proved to be the right decision as Brazil lined up against Germany in a keenly awaited encounter.
Wearing the iconic #10 yellow jersey, the Everton player scored a hat-trick in half an hour, and could have had two more in the first half as well.
He opened the scoring early running onto a through-ball from Antony and firing in on goal, pouncing on the rebound after the Germany goalkeeper made a save.
His second was a header.
Richarlison finally nabbed his hat trick with a spectacular finish near the half an hour mark.
Picking up the ball outside the box on the left, he cut inside and curled in a shot into the far corner.
Germany fought back after the break with goals from Nadiem Amiri and Ragnar Ache.
Bayer Leverkusen striker Paulinho struck in injury time to make it 4-2, which was the final score.
Disappointment for France and Spain
France’s Olympic tournament got off to a bad start as they were humiliated 4-1 by Mexico.
Diego Lainez was the creator of Mexico’s first goal, crossing for Alexis Vega to head home.
Sebastian Cordova then doubled the lead with a finish at the near post.
Pierre-Andre Gignac scored for France from the penalty spot.
But two late goals for Mexico from Uriel Antuna and Eduardo Aguirre sealed a famous 4-1 win for Mexico.
New Zealand created history by beating South Korea 1-0, their first ever win in men’s football at the Olympics.
The vital goal was scored by Burnley striker, Chris Wood.
Japan got off to a great start with a 1-0 win over South Africa.
Real Madrid attacker Takefusa Kubo scored the only goal of the game in the second half.
Earlier, Spain were held to a goalless draw by Egypt.
Spain had a star-studded team, including Pedri, Mikel Oyarzabal, Dani Olmo and Pau Torres but they couldn’t manage to break Egypt down.