Brazil hits six to set up final against Germany
Brazil is one win away from its first Olympic football gold medal after thumping Honduras 6-0 at the Maracana on Thursday (AEST).
The host endured a difficult start to the tournament as it was held to goalless draws by South Africa and Iraq, but has been firing on all cylinders ever since - seeing off Denmark and Colombia - and it was once again in impressive form.
Neymar needed only 15 seconds to give Brazil the lead with the fastest goal in Olympic history, pouncing on an error from Johnny Palacios before beating goalkeeper Luis Lopez thanks to a touch of fortune.
The Barcelona attacker landed awkwardly after his goal and there were fears the Brazil captain would be forced off, but he was eventually able to continue after undergoing treatment.
The early opener proved to be an indicator of things to come for Brazil as its attacking quartet caused Honduras all kinds of problems - Gabriel Jesus made it two in the 26th minute with a calm finish after a delightful throughball from Luan.
Honduras made a number of poor tackles as they attempted to stop Brazil with a more physical approach, but that did not stop Gabriel Jesus netting a third 10 minutes before half-time after being set up by Neymar.
There was more to come after the interval as Marquinhos added his name to the scoresheet, tapping home a Neymar corner.
Brazil continued to dominate after the Paris Saint-Germain defender's strike and Luan eventually got a deserved goal in the 79th minute, before Neymar converted a penalty in the dying minutes to double his personal tally as Micale's men booked a ticket to the final in style.
Brazil will take on Germany for the gold medal on 21 August after goals from Lukas Klostermann and Nils Petersen rounded out a 2-0 semi-final win over Nigeria.
It was Horst Hrubesch's side who took the lead early on in proceedings, Max Meyer picking out full-back Klostermann, who duly rolled home his finish from six yards out.
Germany survived a scare moments later, however, as a calamitous error from goalkeeper Timo Horn allowed Aminu Umar a clear sight on goal, but the Osmanlispor forward could only drill a tame effort straight at the backpedalling German shot-stopper.
Matters perhaps should have been made worse for Nigeria soon after, but fortunately for Ndifreke Udo, he escaped with just a caution after diving in recklessly on Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry.
Davie Selke squandered a gilt-edged chance to extend Germany's lead as the half wore on before, on the stroke of the interval, Borussia Dortmund defender Matthias Ginter did brilliantly to prevent Umar from netting with a last-ditch sliding challenge.
Somewhat surprisingly, it was Nigeria who came out the strongest after the restart, though despite creating plenty of half-chances, Mikel John-Obi going close with a header, Samson Siasia's side could not engineer a way through Germany's stubborn, albeit tiring, defence.
And victory was finally sealed for the Germany when, in the closing moments, Selke's cross-cum-shot was squeezed in by second-half substitute Petersen.