Striker Cristiane lifted Brazil into the quarterfinals with personal brilliance on Tuesday when she scored a first-half hat-trick to give the World Cup finalists a 3-1 win over Nigeria in their final group match of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Cristiane, after scoring a brace in two minutes, completed the hat-trick before the interval after she latched onto a pass by midfielder Maycon and sent the ball home.

Brazil, who pulled off two wins and one draw in the tough Group F, will play against those who finish second in the Group G, possibly one team between the United States and Norway.

The World Cup and Olympic runners-up were left in a precarious situation as their fleet-footed talisman Marta looked out of form and could rarely threaten Nigeria's defence in the first 30 minutes.

Nigeria, who languished at the bottom of the group after losing all their previous two matches, seemed not intimidated by Brazil's strike force and pushed ahead from the start to manage their first goal at the Games.

Their efforts paid off at the 19th minute when midfielder Perpetua Nkwocha scored a penalty.

The penalty came after Nigerian winger Cynthia Uwak was fallen by Brazilian defender Rosana in the area.

Brazil, who had to manage at least a draw to make sure of a berth in the knockout stage, hit in the equaliser at the 33rd minute through Cristiane.

The 23-year-old forward rose to head a cross by Rosana past Nigerian goalkeeper Precious Dede.

One minute later, Cristiane put Brazil one goal ahead as she surprised Nigeria defence and Dede with a spectacular overhead kick.

She came close to scoring at the 65th minute when her curled kick was parried by Dede.

Source:Xinhua