You solely wanted a cursory information of ladies’s soccer and a take a look at the teams for the ladies’s soccer match on the 2024 Olympics to see that the competitors had large potential for leisure.
However even with these excessive expectations, the match has been absurd, good, dramatic and vastly, vastly entertaining, on and off the pitch.
There have been moments some would relatively overlook, however watching from afar – and with the Workforce GB going unrepresented, leaving us with no horse within the race – it has all been nice. This is the highlights as far as we head into the ultimate.
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1. Dronegate
We begin earlier than the match even received going. New Zealand raised a grievance after a drone was flown over their coaching session forward of going through Canada of their opening group recreation.
It turned out that not solely was it piloted by the Canadians, however that this had been frequent follow from them for fairly a while.
Supervisor Bev Priestman and two of her backroom employees had been stood down from their duties by Canada Soccer, with the trio newest suspended from all footballing exercise for a yr. And that wasn’t all…
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2. Canada overcome the chances (then get knocked out)
Canada had been additionally hit with a six-point group stage deduction for his or her sneaky sneaky spying, giving them an uphill battle to get out of their group with solely the highest two going by way of alongside two of the very best three third-placed sides.
Extremely, they managed it anyway, following up a 2-1 comeback victory over New Zealand by as soon as once more coming from behind to beating hosts France, courtesy of a outstanding 102nd-minute objective by Vanessa Gilles.
Even after their deduction, that meant Canada completed second of their group and progressed to the quarter-finals as one of many kind groups within the competitors…solely to fall to Germany on penalties.
3. An 11-goal thriller
And to assume we have not even left Group A till now. Even in a tricky area, Group B was probably the most fascinating of the three, with powerhouses United States, Germany and Australia all drawn collectively alongside unfancied Zambia.
The US comfortably dispatched Zambia within the first set of group video games, whereas Germany offered an equally complete 3-0 win over Australia.
The Aussies could have been counting their blessings they’d Zambia up subsequent – their finest probability of getting three factors which may be sufficient on their very own to get by way of as one of many three finest third-placed sides, particularly in mild of Canada’s deduction within the different group.
Nicely, it turned out to be removed from simpler. Barbra Banda put Zambia forward inside a minute, just for Alanna Kennedy to reply with an equaliser six minutes later. By half time, Banda had a hat-trick and Zambia had been 4-2 up. 10 minutes after the restart, it was 5-2. Sport over?
Nope. A Zambia personal objective quickly after the ninth kick-off of the sport gave Australia a glimmer of hope that they was a full-on bedazzling, with Steph Catley bagging a brace to make it 5-5 earlier than Michelle Heyman scored the eleventh and last objective within the ninetieth minute to win it for Australia.
We will not think about there have been too many sides in any spherical robin tournaments who’ve scored six targets in one in every of their video games solely to be eradicated on objective distinction, however that is precisely what occurred to Australia. They misplaced 2-1 to the US of their last recreation, and missed out on qualification to the quarter-finals because the lowest-ranking third-placed aspect by only a single objective, with Brazil eking by way of of their place.
4. Marta’s second of insanity
Lastly, group C. One of many best girls’s gamers of all time, if not the best, Brazilian Marta introduced earlier this yr that the Olympics can be her last foray in worldwide soccer after 22 years within the aspect and over 200 caps.
However her worldwide profession practically resulted in tears – actually. The centre-forward put within the form of problem solely a centre-forward can in Brazil’s last group stage recreation towards Spain, diving in left-foot first to a bouncing ball that was rattling close to 5 toes off the bottom in a style Check would have been happy with.
Marta’s studs caught the highest of Olga Carmona’s head, and the referee was left with no selection however to indicate a pink card for the extremely harmful problem. Someway, Marta tried to plead her innocence, and was decreased to disbelieving tears when the official remained unmoved.
That was comprehensible, on condition that Brazil’s hopes of getting out the group had been nonetheless within the stability after they’d contrived to take a 1-0 lead into harm time towards Japan solely to lose 2-1. Was this actually how Marta’s glittering Brazil profession was going to finish?
A two-match ban, ludicrously appealed, meant Brazil must attain the ultimate for Marta to have an opportunity to finish issues on a happier not.
Fortunately for her, they’ve finished precisely that in her absence, regardless of simply barely scraping previous Australia to achieve the knockouts – regardless of occurring to lose 2-0 to Spain, who scored their second within the seventeenth minute of harm time.
Brazil will now face the USA in Saturday’s last.
5. Go, cross, cross, cross, cross, cross, cross, cross, cross, cross, cross…
If a participant exceeds 100 passes per recreation, it’s noteworthy sufficient to earn an on-screen chiron and an impressed/scornful noise from a commentator.
So hats firmly off/decidely on to American centre-back Naomi Girma. In her 120 minutes towards Japan within the quarter-finals, she accomplished 200 of her 204 passes, accounting for 21% of all of the passes her aspect performed towards Japan. 105 of these got here within the first half alone, probably the most Opta have ever recorded at a World Cup or Olympics.
Is that…good? Is that…extremely sterile and boring? Your perspective will fluctuate. However it labored, nearly: the US received 1-0 to ebook passage to the semis, the place Girma accomplished simply the 125 passes towards Germany.
6. One of the best factor that may occur in a penalty shootout
Alright, aside from that point Kepa Arrizabalaga got here on only for the shootout within the 2022 League Cup last three years after refusing to go off in the identical circumstances, then failed to avoid wasting any penalties after which missed the decider.
However we’re alongside the fitting strains, at the least. Who would not love seeing a goalkeeper stepping as much as take a decisive spot kick, in spite of everything?
Not Canada, that is who. Former Chelsea goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger was elected to take Germany’s fifth spot kick within the quarter-finals having already saved from Ashley Lawrence and Adriana Leon. Berger calmly waited for her reverse quantity to commit a method and coolly slotted it into the alternative nook to ship Germany by way of to the semis.
Extra Olympics tales
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