Olympic soccer stories to watch

The 2016 Summer Olympics began yesterday at noon, two days before Friday’s opening ceremony. In an almost-empty Rio de Janeiro stadium, the Swedish and South African women’s soccer teams went at it. The early start came because of the difficulty of scheduling 58 soccer matches and six required rest days.

Two Olympic soccer stories are worth following.

First, the U.S. women’s team has won four times consecutively: That’s the longest gold-medal streak in Olympic team sport history. U.S. captain Carli Lloyd, the current FIFA player of the year, will be backed up by six former gold medalists including forward Alex Morgan and goalie Hope Solo.

The U.S. team is favored but it won’t have an easy road: It will have to finish ahead of 12 of the world’s best, including France, Germany, and Colombia. The match against No. 2-ranked Germany comes on Aug. 6, and the two teams may meet again in a quarterfinal.

Brazil, though ranked lower worldwide, probably also will be a determined opponent. Marta, the five-time FIFA player of the year and the leading women’s World Cup goal-scorer, leads Brazil’s team: She’s so well known, soccer fans refer to her with just one name. Brazil has never won Olympic gold, and the soccer-crazed nation will be rooting for its team to break the streak, on home soil.

Men’s Olympic soccer is less prestigious than World Cup play due to FIFA rules restricting the age of the players who participate: Each team can have only three players over age 23. But Brazil is taking this competition seriously enough to have reserved superstar Neymar (who also goes by only one name) to captain its squad. Soccer experts consider Neymar, now 24, one of the three best players in the world. Brazil’s men have never claimed Olympic gold, but the host nation advantage and the talented line-up make them the favorite.

Brazil also has a humiliation to avenge: its 7-1 loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup. Brazil can look forward to a possible semi-final against Germany if the Germans aren’t knocked out by South Korea or Mexico in the first round. Mexico is the reigning Olympic champion and probably Brazil’s biggest threat, but this year’s Mexican team lacks Javier Hernandez and other key players from the 2012 lineup.

The men’s soccer tournament begins today when Iraq plays Denmark at 11 a.m. EDT. Every game of both tournaments will be live-streamed at nbcolympics.com and via Sling. They also will be broadcast on cable channels including NBCSN and MSNBC.