Brazil could not have asked for a more comfortable outing in the semifinals of their men's football encounter, and now the home side are just a victory away from winning their first ever gold medal in the Olympics.
Honduras failed to produce the dogged determination that took them into the final four, going to pieces after Neymar struck the opening goal within seconds of the start of the match, with Gabriel Jesus, Marquinhos and Luan also getting on the scoresheet in an as-comfortable-as-they-come 6-0 victory in this Rio 2016 Olympics men's football semifinal match at the Maracana.
Brazil will face Germany in the gold medal match at the same ground, after the world champions beat Nigeria 2-0, thanks to goals from Lukas Klostermann and Nils Petersen.
The one thing Honduras would have talked about the most going into the semifinal would have been "do not concede an early goal." Well, that plan did not work at all, as Neymar struck within the first 15 seconds of the match. Neymar closed down Johnny Palacios just outside the Honduras penalty box, with the Brazil captain then just nipping in ahead of the goalkeeper Luiz Lopez. Lopez made the initial save, but the ball rebounded back off Neymar and into the net.
With the score at 1-0 much before the first minute was even gone, Honduras looked completely lost, and Brazil took full advantage. Gabriel Jesus, the man signed by Manchester City this summer, got the first of his two in the 26th minute, running onto a through ball from Luan, before producing an expert finish.
Jesus would do the same thing again, nine minutes later, breaking free from the left one more time, before absolutely smashing the ball into the roof of the net to give Lopez, who also made quite a few outstanding saves, no chance.
The match was done by then, with the majority of the fans at the far-from-capacity Maracana enjoying themselves as Brazil coasted through the rest of the match.
Six minutes into the second half, Marquinhos made it 4-0 off a corner. Neymar swung in the setpiece, and Marquinhos, left alone six yards out, got lucky with his first touch, before slotting the ball home from close range.
Luan would then score his third goal in as many matches in the Olympics, tapping home into an empty net on 79 minutes after Gabriel Barbosa played in substitute Felipe Anderson, who squared the ball across to his teammate for a simple finish.
In the 90th minute, Luan was brought down unnecessarily by Palacios inside the box and there was Neymar to score the final goal of the game from the penalty spot after starting the match off by scoring the quickest goal in Olympic football history.
