Olympic champion in 2016, Rogério Micale recalls calling up Weverton | OneFootball

Decisive in the final, Weverton, from Palmeiras, was crucial for Brazil's achievement of the first-ever gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in 2016. Rogério Micale, the coach of the Olympic Team at the time, spoke about the choice and highlighted the goalkeeper's decision-making ability.

“We studied a lot because in tournaments like the World Cup or the Olympics, you are likely to decide on penalties. And then you need to choose a goalkeeper capable of handling that. Weverton was chosen for this reason. Just as I had taken Fernando Prass before, not only because he was experienced but also because he could be decisive in a situation like this,” said Rogério Micale in an interview with the podcast #TáNoJogo this Wednesday.

Initially, the coach called up Fernando Prass (Palmeiras) and Uilson (Atlético-MG) to defend the Brazilian Team's goal at the Olympic Games. However, the Verdão goalkeeper had to be cut due to injury, and Weverton, who was playing for Athletico-PR, was called up.

The Furacão goalkeeper took over the starting position and participated in all six games of the campaign, not conceding any goals until the final.

Penalties in the decision

In the battle for the gold medal, Neymar opened the scoring for the Brazilian Team, and Max Meyer equalized for Germany. In the penalty shootout, when the score was tied at 4-4, Nils Petersen stepped up to take the fifth penalty for the Germans.

“Our goalkeeping coach and performance analyst researched all the penalties taken by Germany's kickers. We found out that, in eight recent attempts, he (Nils Petersen) had shot four to one side and four to the other.”

Weverton saved the shot, and Neymar scored the goal that gave Brazil the title, right at the Maracanã.

“How to determine where he would shoot in the final? The analysis was as follows: when the game was calm, resolved, he would shoot to one side. When the game was decisive, tight, he would shoot to the other. If I'm not mistaken, when necessary, he chose the right side. Since it was an Olympic final, we understood he would shoot to his safe side. We passed this information to Weverton. And the effect was not only on Petersen's penalty but on other shots as well. He managed to guess the side on three shots. On one of them, it even hit his hand and went in, but the reading was correct. This detail made all the difference. Many people think that in a penalty shootout, everything is random, but it's not. There is study, preparation, and strategy,” revealed Rogério Micale.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.