Gabriel Jesus wins gold in Rio Olympics, promises golden things for City
One of Pep Guardiola’s new signings, Gabriel Jesus, acquitted himself befitting of someone dubbed the “next Neymar” in the Rio games. His Olympic performance bodes well for City’s future.
Well, Brazil finally did it. The footballing mecca that produced Pele, Zico, Rivellino, Socrates, Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, gets its first men’s Olympic gold medal. This milestone was accomplished with no small help from 19-year-old striker Gabriel Jesus, who will join Manchester City at the end of Brazilian domestic season.
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Jesus scored three times for Brazil during the games’ tournament. His goals in a gold medal-winning campaign for Brazil bespeaks of his golden potential for City.
His first came when he gave Brazil a 2-0 lead on Denmark in the group stage. In the 26th minute of the semifinal against Honduras, he timed his run perfectly, as his teammates combined to play him into space, and he knocked the ball past goalkeeper Luis Lopez into the corner with the outside of his boot. Less than 10 minutes later, Neymar slotted him through where he took the ball to the Honduran 6-yard box before roofing it for the second. Both finishes were classy and show he ought to be doing these sorts of things in Europe, not Brazil. It’s a cause to rejoice for City fans that the Blues got him first.
On Saturday, although it took penalty kicks, Brazil defeated perhaps its biggest rival on the world stage, Germany. Regulation and overtime ended 1-1, with goals from Neymar and Max Meyer. But as opposed to the senior squad’s meltdown in face of the discipline of the eventual World Cup winners four years, Brazil U-23s stayed true and alleviated the sting of that failure in their performance.
Gabriel Jesus was a big part of this moment of redemption for Brazil. I know it’s premature and a lot can happen, but I think City has got it’s long-term replacement for Sergio Aguero, once the prolific Argentine leaves the Etihad.
* A previous version of this article recorded Jesus only scoring two goals in the tournament. It was actually three.