August 22, 2008
BRONZE BOMBERS
Brazil 3, Belgium 0

SHANGHAI, China—Brazil lacked some of their usual joie de vivre, but they got the job done on Friday, whitewashing Belgium 3-0 to take the Bronze Medal in the Beijing Olympic soccer tournament.

Diego opened the scoring in the 27th minute, scrambling to reach Rafinha’s cross and get off a shot out of a goalmouth crowd. Jo scored the first of his two goals with a header off Ramires’s rebound seconds before halftime to double the lead.

After the break, Brazil seemed content to sit on their 2-0 lead, stringing together passes without making many serious runs on goal. Nevertheless, they dominated possession, and held fast against the Europeans’ increasingly desperate attacks. Netminder Renan stopped a long-range rocket from Jan Vertonghen in the 76th minute, and picked off a screened shot by Sepp De Roover with seven minutes left to play.

Jo capped the win with a goal in the second minute of stoppage time, beating his defender in the box for an open shot at the Belgian goal.