Canada wins do-or-die match to keep Olympic soccer gold hopes alive
The Canadian women’s soccer team has overcome all obstacles to advance to the knockout stage at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
They pulled off a 1-0 victory over Colombia today to finish the group stage with a perfect 3-0 record. That means that they’re advancing into the knockout stage against all odds.
Vanessa Gilles broke open the game with a header midway through the second half off a set piece. The goal was all that Canada needed to secure the full three points up for grabs.
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 1-0 CANADA 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
Vanessa Gilles gets the goal pic.twitter.com/7WjusNOCwg
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) July 31, 2024
Canada entered the game knowing that anything short of a win would mean their tournament ended. The six points they earned across their first two matches had only brought them back to even in the table due to the six-point penalty assessed for their spying scandal.
The scandal has been one of the major stories at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The Canadian team has been without regular head coach Bev Priestman who was sent home and then given a one-year ban for her involvement.
Despite being without their coach and having this scandal hang above their heads, the Canadian team has shown an incredible amount of resilience. They have yet to lose a single match in Paris and are now just a few wins away from defending their goals from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
There was only one possibility for Canada to advance and it meant winning every single game. They have somehow managed to pull it off.
The Canadians did a good job today at holding onto their lead. Colombia made several attacking pushes in the second half, but they were met with a strong defensive wall each and every time.
Soccer ⚽ : les Colombiennes bourdonnent près du filet, mais les Canadiennes résistent!
🇨🇦 1-0 🇨🇴@CANWNT #Paris2024 #JeuxOlympiques #rcsports #soccer pic.twitter.com/R4XnyqQpd0
— Radio-Canada Sports (@RC_Sports) July 31, 2024
Colombia had a mildly threatening free kick on the last play of the game, but Canada managed to clear the ball, and the final whistle blew.
Canada needed to be perfect to get to the knockout round.
Well after three matches, THEY ARE PERFECT 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/yrurzIGXVY
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) July 31, 2024
Canada will play their quarter-final game on Saturday against Germany at 1 pm ET/10 am PT. The German team is ranked fourth in the world by FIFA. If they win that game, they will face the winner of the contest between the United States and Japan in the semi-finals.
This is #CANWNT‘s road to the final. Avoiding Spain is good, but apart from that, surely that’s the more testing part of the bracket. Buckle up, this is going to be FUN. #football pic.twitter.com/mNganFGZnE
— Çetin Cem Yılmaz 🇹🇷🇨🇦 (@cetincem) July 31, 2024
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