Brazil's Games legacy needs Marta - coach

Marta, 30, sank to her knees in tears as Lisa Dahlkvist converted the winning spot-kick to seal a 4-3 win for the Scandinavians after a 0-0 draw over 120 minutes in front of over 70,000 fans at Rio's Maracana stadium.

Defeat ended Marta's hopes of landing a first ever major title for Brazil's women having enthused the nation with their excellent early tournament performances -- including a 5-1 thrashing of Sweden in the group stages.

Unlike in a quarter-final shootout win over Australia, Marta did score from the spot. However, another of Brazil's senior players faltered as Cristiane, the top scorer in Olympic history, saw her penalty saved by Hedvig Lindahl.

However, Vadao believes Marta, Cristiane and 38-year-old Formiga, who shone in her sixth Olympics, need to continue on the international stage to ensure the enthusiasm built-up during the Games for women's football in Brazil doesn't dissipate.

"It would be very regrettable to lose these players. It is their right if they choose to stop, but if we lost Formiga, Cristiane and Marta it is a huge loss," said Vadao.

"There is little support for women's football in Brazil so the process for replenishment is slow.

"A lot of work and effort will have to be put in to replacing them.

"It is not easy to replace the women, whereas with the men the support and the structure is there."

Sweden opened the Olympics in under-whelming fashion in front of an empty Olympic stadium against South Africa.

Yet, less than two weeks later they were faced with a huge crowd across Rio with interest in the women's game in Brazil having sky-rocketed thanks to the hosts' success.

Tuesday's semi-final was only the second time Brazil's women had played at the Maracana, where the final on Friday between Sweden and Germany will also be held.

"This is a glorious moment for women's football. It is everybody's dream to play here," added Vadao.

"It is full of tradition. It is a cultural thing in Brazil, it is a symbol. Maracana means Brazil and Brazil means football. It is quite a moment and I am just sorry we didn't make it to the final."

"Respect"

"The medal we've won is the respect of people," said goalkeeper Aline. "Brazil is paying more attention to women’s soccer.

"Even people who didn’t used to care about us have been supporting us. That's very nice

"It's very important for women’s football as a whole and it's going to keep changing the country's view of the sport for future generations."

The disappointment was even harder to take for the hosts as they dominated the game against the defensively-minded Swedes.

Marta was a constant threat, but for the third game in a row Brazil failed to score before Lindahl was Sweden's hero in a second straight shootout win after dethroning three-time defending gold medallists the USA in the quarter-finals.

"It makes the frustration even greater because there was huge expectation and we were playing well, but I cannot measure the consequences right now," added a dejected Vadao.

"There is no way to describe the feeling of disappointment.

"I would not apologise to the supporters because we dominated the match. We tried everything possible throughout the 120 mins."