Men Olympic Football : Brazil ease through, Egypt progress

Internacional striker Leandro Damiao inspired 10-man Brazil to comfortable 3-0 Group C victory over New Zealand to send them into the quarter-finals with a 100% record.

 The 23-year-old set up midfielder Danilo to open the scoring and then claimed his second of the tournament before the break, with Tottenham's Sandro adding a third in the second half to cement the win which will see his side return to St James' Park on Saturday evening.

 Brazil went ahead with 23 minutes gone when Danilo played a one-two with Damiao before surging into the box and lifting the ball over keeper Michael O'Keeffe.

 The South Americans were simply irresistible, and they extended their lead within six minutes when Alex Sandro ran on to an audacious back-heel by left-back Marcelo and squared for Damiao to tap home.

 Egypt also progressed to the knockout rounds after a convincing 3-1 win to knock out Belarus.

 The North Africans struggled to break down a dogged Belarusian side in the opening period but got the all-important breakthrough 11 minutes after the break as Mohamed Salah sweetly controlled a long ball through the middle and slotted home his third goal of the competition.

 Belarus responded by abandoning the caution they had shown for the first hour, but that only made them more susceptible to the counter-attack and two flowing moves from the Egyptians allowed Marwan Mohsen and then Mohamed Aboutrika the easiest of finishes.

 Andrei Voronkov pulled one back with a fine header three minutes from time but it was too little too late for Belarus, who bow out of their first ever Olympics at the group stages.

 Pre-tournament favourites Spain embarrassingly bowed out of the men's Olympic football competition without a goal to their name as they drew 0-0 to Morocco.

 A month ago their compatriots retained their European Championship crown to add to World Cup glory, but this has been a few days to forget for coach Luis Milla's side.

 The goalless draw in front of a crowd of 35,973 at Manchester United's Old Trafford, also ended the faint hopes of the north Africans.

 In the same group, Japan and Honduras both qualified for the quarter-finals in the men's football tournament after fighting out a 0-0 draw of their own at the City of Coventry Stadium.

 Japan finished top of the group with seven points from three games and they will take on Egypt in the last eight. Runners-up Honduras will face a more daunting test against one of the tournament favourites in Brazil.

 Oribe Peralta's second-half strike saw Mexico top Group B with a 1-0 victory over Switzerland at the Millennium Stadium.

 The Swiss needed a win to have any hope of reaching the Olympic quarter-finals, and they enjoyed the better of the opening half with Innocent Emeghara and Admir Mehmedi missing presentable chances.

 But the failure to take their chances was punished by an improved Mexico after the break, with Peralta's low finish setting up a last-eight meeting with the runner-up in Group A.

 South Korea set up a potential quarter-final meeting with Great Britain despite being held to a disappointing 0-0 draw against Gabon at Wembley.

 Arsenal's Park Chu-young and Sunderland striker Ji Dong-won were both guilty of missing easy chances and the quality of the Asian side's finishing - and their play in general - was very poor.

 Gabon came the closest to clinching victory in the second half when Levy Madinda hit a post, but the draw was enough to see Korea through to the last eight.

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