African duo of Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt had their medal dreams in the football event at the Tokyo2020 Olympics swapped by Spain and Brazil.
Both nations suffered 5-2 and 0-1 defeats in their quarterfinal matches to the European and South American giants respectively on Saturday morning.
Spain needed extra time to see off Ivory Coast who for 90 minutes proved to be a match for their Spanish counterparts before they capitulated in extra time.
Rafa Mir was the hero for Spain after he came off the bench in added time to inspire his team with a remarkable hattrick after the game ended 2-2 in the regular time.
“We have a team that can do something great here. We just need to be calm and be ourselves,” Mir said moments after their incredible victory.
His hattrick means he becomes the first man to score a treble in the OlympicFootball knockout rounds since Carlos Tevez in 2004
The CIV had themselves to blame after multiple defensive errors at crucial times from the Eric Bailly led defense saw them lose their lead twice before they conceded three more goals in extra time.
Cote d’Ivoire once game exit the Olympics at rye quarterfinal stage after doing so in the 2008 edition.
In the other game, Matheus Cunha was the hero as he scored the decisive goal that sent Egypt packing and Brazil through to the last four.
Unlike their Ivorian counterparts, the young Pharaohs stayed in the game from start to finish but were unable to cancel out Cunha’s 37th-minute strike.
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