We have already reached the knockout phase of the Olympic tournament: the women’s quarterfinals will be played on Saturday.
Hosts France won Group A, Canada (who also advanced alongside Colombia) would have done so if they had not been stripped of six issues for spying on an education consultation in New Zealand.
Spain, another regular app favorite, earned nine points out of nine in Group C, which also saw Japan and Brazil advance.
Gambling. com’s experts at The Panel checked the latest odds for all of Saturday’s games and decided on a tip for each of them.
Emma Hayes is off to a strong start to her tenure as US Women’s Team Manager, guiding her new team to 3 wins at the Olympic Games organization level.
In truth, the United States were never challenged, beating Zambia (3-0), Germany (4-1) and Australia (2-1).
Japan They narrowly lost to Spain on day one, before triumphing against Brazil and Nigeria to qualify in second place.
While it is conceivable that Japan would break through the United States’ line of defense, in this case it would take a great effort to avoid defeat. In our opinion, Hayes’ team will qualify for the quarterfinals.
Spain is the reigning world champion and is now going to win Olympic gold for the first time.
Surprisingly, this is the first time they have qualified for the summer games, underlining how temporarily Spain has risen to the top of women’s football.
Colombia proved its worth at last summer’s World Cup, but only managed one victory at the organizational level and finished third.
La Roja has conceded just one goal at the organisational level and its defensive line is easy to break, as Colombia could see on Saturday.
Canada then beat New Zealand but were penalized with a six-point deduction, leaving their chances of qualifying for the quarterfinals in a balance.
However, Canada bounced back by beating France and Colombia to advance to the next round.
The organization is there for Canada to advance in what would possibly be the most balanced of the 4 games on Saturday.
Without Canada’s penalty, France would face Germany in the quarterfinals and potentially the United States in the semifinals. Instead, they will face a Brazilian team that is no longer among the best in the world.
Brazil won silver at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, as well as being runners-up at the 2007 World Cup.
But in the last edition of this competition they were eliminated at the organizational level and this summer they only reached the quarterfinals as one of the third classified.
It is believed that France will have too much quality in Nantes for their South American opponents, who will be without Marta. Their legendary striker earned a direct red card for a great performance in Brazil’s last match against Spain.
Interestingly, all four goals conceded by Brazil in this tournament came in the second half, so France could be strong heading into Saturday’s final whistle.