NICE, France – Canada’s women’s soccer team can do the once-unthinkable on Wednesday — advance to the Olympic women’s soccer knockout round with a win over Colombia at Stade de Nice.
Docked six points by FIFA for a Canada Soccer spying scandal, the squad has fought through the distractions over the last week to earn a pair of 2-1 comeback wins over New Zealand and France.
Those results have put the defending champions in position to finish no worse than second in Group A with a victory in the group stage finale.
“I honestly think that this Olympics is our tournament,” said Canadian defender Kadeisha Buchanan.
A favourable ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport before the game would greatly improve Canada’s chances of reaching the quarterfinals. Canadian officials appealed the six-point penalty but regardless of the decision, the team was in a “win and you’re in” scenario.
Canada is aiming to reach the medal podium for a fourth straight time after winning bronze in 2012 and 2016 before taking gold three years ago in Tokyo.
“We have the motivation and we have the drive,” said Canadian defender Ashley Lawrence. “We showed that we have the mentality.”
Eighth-ranked Canada has defeated No. 22 Colombia in both previous meetings, but those matches happened over a decade ago.
Vanessa Gilles provided the dramatics last Sunday by scoring in the 12th minute of injury time against second-ranked France to keep the goal of advancing alive.
Lawrence said her team is focusing on the Colombia match and ignoring all other noise.
“We can only control getting the win,” said Lawrence. “That is our motivating factor. We want to go into the game 100 per cent to blow it out of the water and win.”
Conditions will be less than favourable for the must-win game. An extreme high temperature warning is in effect in the region.
A temperature of 29 C was expected for the 9 p.m. (local time) kickoff and the air quality index was in the poor range. A moderate thunderstorm warning was also in effect.
The quarterfinals begin Saturday. Knockout play will continue through the final on Aug. 10 in Paris.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2024.
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