Mexico claimed the men's Olympic football gold medal thanks to a 2-1 victory against Brazil in the final at Wembley.

Some of the 86,000-strong crowd were still taking their seats when Mexico went in front inside 30 seconds, Oribe Peralta curling in from the edge of the penalty area after Brazil defender Rafael had been caught in possession. Peralta's powerful second-half header made it 2-0 and though Hulk pulled one back late on, Mexico clung on for their first gold of the Olympics.

South Korea settled for bronze, having beaten Japan 2-0 in the third-place play-off. They had earlier beaten Europe's most successful side, Great Britain, in the quarter-finals. Spearheaded by one of their three overage players, Craig Bellamy, hosts Great Britain enjoyed a successful games after drawing 1-1 with Senegal in their opening fixture. Stuart Pearce's outfit went on to beat the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay in Group A before that penalty shoot-out defeat by South Korea.

It was a different story for world and European champions Spain, however, who lost to Japan and Honduras before drawing 1-1 with Morocco. That meant they were eliminated at the group stage. Europe's two other representatives, Belarus and Switzerland, qualified by virtue of their semi-final showing in last year's UEFA European Under-21 Championship but fared little better.

Belarus were drawn in Group C and despite beginning their campaign with victory against New Zealand, subsequent losses to Brazil and Egypt meant they failed to reach the last eight. Switzerland also fell at the first hurdle in Group D, drawing 1-1 with Gabon but losing against South Korea and eventual winners Mexico.

A record aggregate crowd of well over 2 million people watched the Olympic men's and women's football, which took place in England, Wales and Scotland.