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The win, 5-4 on penalties after the teams were tied 1-1 through 120 minutes, should help remove the sting, just a little, of the humiliating loss that Brazil suffered in the last major men’s game played on home soil, the 7-1 defeat in the semifinal of the 2014 World Cup to these very same Germans. Not quite the same Germans, of course, for this is an under-23 tournament and the World Cup is not, but Germans, anyway.

The shattering roar of the cheer at Maracana after Neymar’s penalty kick, which somehow eclipsed the teeth-rattling scream of the Weverton save of a Nils Peterson attempt after Germany converted their first four attempts in the shootout, eventually gave way to joyous songs and chants.

The fans stayed standing, basking in revelry, as they awaited the medal ceremony and the loudest national anthem that these Games have yet heard.

The Olympics have brought many things to Brazil, some of them wanted and some of them less so, but on Saturday evening, for this troubled country, they brought relief.

It will never go all the way to erasing the hangover of that loss two years ago, as much as the atmosphere was so joyous on Saturday. In 2014, with an undefeated team that was widely expected to win, the national squad surrendered four goals in a six-minute span and trailed 5-0 at halftime. Brazil’s only goal came in the dying minutes.

The loss, which echoed the stunning 1950 loss to Uruguay in the World Cup final before 200,000 fans somehow shoehorned into Maracana, was treated with the same kind of gloom reserved for large-scale natural disasters.