Canada remains atop Group E at the Olympics

With 1:1 draw against China at the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, Canada is in good position to advance to the quarter-final stage. Canada played the hosts to a draw at the Tianjin Olympic Sports Center Stadium on Saturday evening.



Canada remains tied in first place with China in Group E, each sporting a 1-1-0 record after two games. Sweden moved into third place today with three points thanks to its 1:0 victory over Argentina.



As such, unless New Zealand can pull off an upset victory against the United States or if Japan can pull off an upset victory against Norway, Canada will advance to the quarter-final stage, regardless of its outcome against Sweden on 12 August.



Saturday in Shenyang, Kerstin Stegemann scored the lone goal in the 64th minute for a 1:0 victory over Nigeria. Brazil then pulled off a 2:1 win over Korea DPR with goals by Daniela and Marta. Brazil and Germany are tied with four points each while DPR Korea sits in third with three points.



In Group G in Qinghuangdao, USA’s Carli Lloyd scored the lone goal in a 1:0 win over Japan. Norway then won by a similar 1:0 score over Nigeria. Melissa Wiik scored her second goal of the tournament, this time in the 8th minute of the match. With six points, Norway is guaranteed a place in the quarter-final. USA is in second place with

three points while New Zealand and Japan are behind with one point each.



Undefeated Canada (1-1-0) will face Sweden in its last Group match. The two sides will meet at 19.45 on Tuesday 12 August at the Workers’ Stadium in Beijing. The match will be televised live on CBC and CBCSports.ca (07.45 ET or 04.45 PT).



While Canada is in a good position to advance to the quarter final, it will have to wait until all the matches are played on 12 August to determine its 15 August opponent. The top-two teams from each group advance, as do two of the three third-place teams.



The Women’s Olympic Football Tournament runs 6-21 August. Eight of 12 teams participating in the Group Stage will advance to the 15 August quarter finals.