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RIO DE JANEIRO. — Brazil and superstar Neymar were booed off as their quest for a maiden Olympic football gold medal began with a 0-0 draw against 10-man South Africa on Thursday. Barcelona ace Neymar is by far the biggest name in the competition and has been tasked with restoring pride to Brazilian football after a catastrophic 7-1 semi-final defeat to Germany on home soil at the 2014 World Cup.However, he endured a frustrating afternoon on a sandy and slow surface in Brasilia as South Africa held out despite Mothobi Mvala’s red card half an hour from time prompting the crowd to jeer the hosts off on the final whistle.

“For us the draw is a defeat,” said Neymar. “The team went on the field to win, we know our responsibility, we know it isn’t going to be easy. It is not just a case of turning up and winning the gold medal.”

Group A is now in a four-way tie on one point after Iraq and Denmark also played out a scoreless draw.

In contrast to the swaths of empty stands across the six cities being used to host the men’s and women’s football tournaments on the opening two days, the hosts commanded a near-capacity 70 000 crowd. — AFP.