Mexico stuns Brazil for football glory

WEMBLEY – Oribe Peralta scored just 29 seconds into the Olympic final and added another goal in the second half to help Mexico stun Brazil 2-1 Saturday and win its first gold in football.

Peralta took advantage of a mistake by the Brazilian defense in the game’s opening minute and slotted a low right-foot shot just inside the near post. It was the fastest Olympic goal in at least 36 years, since FIFA began keeping record of the competition.

The striker added the second with a firm header from a free kick in the 75th.

Hulk scored for Brazil in injury time, but Oscar missed a header in the final seconds to waste the last chance for a comeback.

Brazil was also trying to win its first gold, which is the only significant trophy the five-time world champion hasn’t won in football.

The Brazilians established the London Games as the team’s priority this year and arrived as the heavy favorite after bringing most of its top players for the competition.

The attendance at Wembley of 86,162 was the highest for any event in London and took the total attendance for the men’s and women’s tournaments to a staggering 2.18 million.

The only controversy of the afternoon went largely unnoticed by most of those in the sun-drenched ground though.

Only 17 South Korean players were on the podium from their 18-man squad to collect their bronze medals after the IOC disqualified Park Jong-woo for displaying a political banner after they beat Japan 2-0 in the third-fourth playoff match at Cardiff Friday. — AP