Big matches lined up for final days of Olympics

In today’s women’s soccer gold-medal match, Swedish soccer player Linda Sembrant dropped to the grass, face twisted in despair. Seconds before, while trying to clear the ball from in front of her own goal, she had accidently kicked it in. Germany went on to win, 2-1. The Swedes had beaten the heavily favored U.S. team last week and defeated Brazil with its screaming fans three days ago, but now it was over.

Tomorrow brings the men’s soccer final at 3:30 p.m. EDT and women’s basketball at 1:30 p.m. In soccer, Brazil will play for its first-ever Olympic gold against Germany, who beat it 7-1 in the last World Cup. The humiliation was so intense that “7-1” has entered the nation’s vocabulary as a way to express failure. It should be a good game showcasing Brazil’s samba style—flashy skills, individual talent—against Germany’s methodical precision.

The U.S. women’s basketball team has dominated the games and will face Spain, a good team, but not good enough. The Spaniards are 5-1 in this tournament and have beat non-U.S. teams by nearly 100 points in those five games—but they also lost to the U.S. women by 40 points early in the Olympics. Team USA’s experience, talent, and teamwork should produce gold.

The U.S. men’s basketball team will play its final game Sunday afternoon against Serbia. The men were shaky early in the Olympics, relying on their talent to compensate for lack of team unity. Many of the players had never worked together before: Ten members of the 12-man squad are first-time Olympians. Nerve-racking wins against Serbia, 94-91, and France, 100-97, brought back memories of the embarrassment of 2004, when a loss to Argentina left the United States with only the bronze medal.

Even though the U.S. players beat Serbia earlier in the Olympics by only 3 points, this year they are likely to win gold. The Americans won big against Argentina and this afternoon beat a talented Spanish team, 82-76. “The only thing we really changed was our passion and our energy,” forward Kevin Durant said. “Guys took it personal.”