11 August 2012 - El Tri Adds A Fourth Color

On 11 August 2012, Mexico took the gold medal at the Olympics, upsetting favorites Brazil 2-1 in London.

Brazil entered the tournament as the leading contenders, with a cadre of stars including Porto striker Hulk, new PSG signing Thiago Silva, Internacional striker Leandro Damião—the tournament's top scorer—and Santos wunderkind Neymar. But when they met Mexico at Wembley, it was El Tri forward Oribe Peralta who stole the show.

Peralta, who plays his club ball at Santos Laguna, needed only 28 seconds and a mistake from Brazilian defender Rafael to put Mexico ahead. When Rafael tried to play the ball out of the back, it was stolen by Javier Aquino, who passed it to Peralta for the opening goal.

Stunned by the quick reversal, Brazil seemed to play on their heels for most of the match. Although they had scored three goals in every game of the tournament up to that point, they could not crack the Mexican defense and, in the 75th minute, they fell further behind as Peralta struck again, this time with a header off a free kick.

Hulk, who had come on as a substitute in the 32nd minute, eventually found the net with a strike in the first minute of stoppage time, but it was too late to do anything but offer a little consolation.

6 August 2012 - Better Late Than Never

On 6 August 2012, the US women advanced to the gold medal match thanks to the latest goal ever scored in Olympic history.

The game was the second women's semifinal, with Japan already advancing with a 2-1 win over France. The US were up against neighbors and rivals Canada, who had just eliminated hosts Great Britain in the quarterfinals.

Playing at Old Trafford in Manchester, the two teams traded a pair of goals each from Canada's Christine Sinclair (22', 67') and the US's Megan Rapinoe (54', 70') to remain level deep into the second half. All four goals were impressive, but Rapinoe's were particularly so, as her first goal snuck in directly from a corner kick and her second was a long-range blast off the opposite post from the edge of the penalty area.

Sinclair then completed her hat-trick in the 73rd minute, which also made her the tournament's leading scorer, before US forward Abby Wambach converted an 80th-minute penalty to bring the sides level once again. They remained level into the second half of extra time. Then, in the third minute of stoppage time, US forward Alex Morgan scored with a header to secure the victory.

The US went into the final, where they beat Japan in a rematch of the 2011 World Cup Final. Canada did not go home empty-handed, though, beating France to claim the bronze.



[Photo credit: Jamie McDonald/FIFA/Getty Images]

25 July 2012 - Better Late Than Never (Unless You're Colombia)

On 25 July 2012, North Korea delayed their opening-day Olympic match against Colombia by over an hour after the organizers displayed the wrong flag on the scoreboard.

Scheduled to start 7:45 p.m. local time, the match was the second of the day at Glasgow's Hampden Park, following the USA's win over France earlier that day. As game time approached, the Colombian players lined up in the tunnel and prepared to take the field, but the Koreans remained in their locker room. They soon made clear that their failure to appear was a protest, made after they realized that the stadium's scoreboard was showing the South Korean flag next to their players' profiles, which they interpreted as a major insult.

Officials eventually corrected the mistake and the game kicked off at 8:50 p.m. Colombia probably would have preferred that it remain delayed, as North Korea won 2-0 with both goals coming from Kim Song-Hui (pictured).