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News August 16, 2016

Canada to play for Olympic bronze at Rio 2016

Canada 0:2 Germany

Canada will face host Brazil in the bronze medal match at the Rio 2016 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. Canada reached the Semi-Final stage undefeated, but fell 0:2 to Germany in Belo Horizonte on 16 August. Canada will have three days to regroup for a chance to repeat as Olympic medalists in Brazil.

MATCH CENTRE – CANADA 0:2 GERMANY

Canada will face Brazil on 19 August at 13.00 local in São Paulo at the Arena Corinthians – our nation’s fourth match in the same stadium in this competition. The match will be broadcast across Canada at 12.00 ET / 09.00 PT (broadcast details to be published at olympics.cbc.ca).

“I thought we worked hard and we gave it our all,” said John Herdman, Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team Head Coach. “We have to go fight the Brazilians for a bronze medal. We have to bring it home – that’s what we promised, that’s our job now.”

In their second encounter in just one week, Germany took the Tuesday honours to advance to the gold-medal match against Sweden on 19 August. Between Canada and Brazil, the two sides have faced each other five times since December, with Canada winning the last meeting on 7 June in Ottawa.

“We are a good team. Let’s get back focused again, we have to get focused because against the Brazilians it is going to be a heck of a match.”

Through five matches at Rio 2016, Canada have posted four wins and one loss. After wins over Australia (2:0), Zimbabwe (3:1), and Germany (2:1) in the group phase, they won 1:0 over France in the Quarter-Finals. That victory equaled a Canada record with 14 international wins on the calendar year. 

This marks the second consecutive major tournament in which Canada have finished first in group play. At the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™, Canada won their group and finished sixth overall in front of record-setting crowds on home soil. At Rio 2016, Canada won their group again, this time finishing perfect with nine points for the first time in their history. From more than 100 nations competing for a chance to reach the Olympic podium, Canada were the only one nation to return to the Semi-Finals from London 2012 to Rio 2016.

This marks Canada’s third consecutive participation at the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. Four years ago at London 2012, Canada won a historic bronze medal, the nation’s first in a summer team sport since 1936. They will have a chance to build their legacy as repeat medalists in team sport at the Summer Olympic Games on Friday against Brazil. More importantly, their impact across back-to-back Olympic Games has been to unify the country while serving as strong role models for the next generation of Canadian footballers.

The Rio 2016 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament runs 3-19 August in six venues (seven stadiums) across Brazil. Across three venues, Canada have traveled 3,182 kilometres from São Paulo to Brasilia to São Paulo to Belo Horizonte and back to São Paulo. Support for #CanadaRED has been tremendous both before and during the Olympic Games, with complete coverage at CanadaSoccer.com. Since the opening match on 3 August, fans have watched every game live on Canadian television and followed #CANWNT across multiple digital and social networks including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter.