Brazil’s Marta Out for Semifinals
Olympic Semifinal: Brazil vs Spain Women’s Soccer Preview
Spain Coming off Impressive Comeback
Brazilian star Marta earned a straight red card in Brazil’s 2-0 group stage loss to Spain. As a result of the ensuing two match suspension, she’ll also miss Tuesday’s Semifinal rematch against Spain.
Regardless, Brazil upset hosts France in the Quarter-Finals and will relish the opportunity to knock out the tournament favorites. Spain, who show +135 odds to win the gold medal, came back from 2-0 down in the Quarters against Colombia to force extra time and win in penalties.
La Roja will look to get off to a better start in this intriguing Brazil vs Spain women’s soccer match and we’ll go through the odds.
Brazil (2-2) vs Spain (3-1-0)
Date & Time: Tuesday, August 6th, 3:00 p.m. ET
Location: Stade Velodrome, Marseille, France
Brazil vs Spain Head-to-Head
After Marta’s first half red card in the group stage meeting last Wednesday, Spain scored two unanswered second half goals to pick up their first major tournament victory over Brazil. The pregame 2024 Olympics betting lines listed Spain as -163 moneyline favorites.
Now, both teams have two wins in this Brazil vs Spain women’s soccer fixture, with one draw. Spain are unbeaten in the last three head-to-head matchups.
Brazil Grab First-Ever Win Over France
With Marta suspended and defender Antonia out with an injury, Brazil still put up a fight against hosts France. Things started off bleakly, though, as Tamires conceded a penalty within the first 15 minutes. Luckily, Brazil keeper Lorena guessed correctly and saved Sakina Karchaoui’s spot kick. France may have had better spells of possession and better chances, but it only took one excellent chance for Brazil to find a breakthrough.
Deep into the second half, Gabi Portilho slotted home on a breakaway and Brazil hung on for 18 minutes of stoppage time to pick up an unexpected 1-0 victory. Brazil were +420 pregame underdogs and Saturday was their first-ever win against France.
However, defender Rafaelle Souza went off in the second half due to an injury and is doubtful for this one. Antonia is out for the remainder of the tournament too. Even though Marta is suspended for this match, she’ll have a chance to play for the bronze medal at the very least.
Brazil desperately need her creativity, as they have only scored three goals in four games on their Summer Olympics 2024 schedule. Along with the win over France and loss to Spain, Brazil defeated Nigeria 1-0 and fell 2-1 to Japan in the group stage and only qualified for the Quarter-Finals as one of the two top ranked third-placed teams.
Spain Keep Their Nerve
Spain fell behind 12 minutes into their Quarter-Final match against Colombia. La Roja found Colombia to be a tough nut to crack, despite keeping over 75 percent of possession. Things got worse for Spain in the second half as Leicy Santos doubled Colombia’s lead. Still, the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup winners kept their nerve and never looked out of the match.
Jenni Hermoso came off the bench in the second half to make a big impact. Hermoso got a goal back for Spain as Salma Paralluelo played the ball into her path to finish. Paralluelo also assisted Irene Paredes’ game-tying goal. It was much-needed for Paredes, Spain’s captain, who one could argue was at fault for both of Colombia’s goals.
Neither team could score in extra time and Spain won 4-2 in the PK shootout. Cata Coll, who made a crucial save when Colombia were up 2-0 in normal time, made one PK save. Spain are one of the most popular soccer picks today but they didn’t come close to covering the 1.5-goal spread as favorites.
They did, however, win all three of their matches in the group stage as Alexia Putellas scored twice. Spain’s first Olympic appearance has been a success so far. Along with the Colombia and Brazil triumphs, they’ve managed a 2-1 win over Japan and 1-0 win against Nigeria.
Brazil vs Spain Match Analysis & Odds
Spain survived a scare on Saturday and they’ll undoubtedly prioritize staying focused on defense. They did prove that they can never be counted out, though, and they’re -190 favorites to defeat Brazil in normal time.
Brazil will be motivated by Marta’s suspension, as they’ll want their legend to be able to compete for gold. The Brazil vs Spain women’s soccer odds price Brazil as +620 underdogs and a draw at +280 odds. Bettors should note Brazil were the only team to win a Quarterfinals game in 90 minutes but this is a tougher test.
Spain -1 and Brazil +1 both sit at -115 odds here. The only time Spain have won by more than a one goal margin at this tournament was against Brazil in the group stage finale. Brazil will have to defend for large stretches of this match and the over/under goal total is at 2.5.
Tuesday’s winner will face either the USA or Germany in Saturday’s Gold Medal game.
| Match | Odds (TO ADVANCE) |
|---|---|
| Spain | -190 |
| Brazil | +620 |
