breakCanadadownonce.ButStina
Blackstenius’fifth goalofthe Gameswas
cancelledoutby JessieFleming’s penalty.
Inthe shootout,facedwiththe
jack-in-a-box anticsof goalkeeper
StephanieLabbe,theirnervefailed.
Cruelly, thecaptainCarolineSeger,
a giantofthe gameinSweden,had
thechance to wingold with their
fifth spot-kick, butshotover.
Canadaonlywontwomatches
withoutrecoursetoa shootout,andonly
scoredsixgoals,butconcededjustfour
withtheirdefenceoutstanding.Their
performancewasatriumphfornew
coachBevPriestman,who tookover
inOctober 2020 aftertwoyearsas
assistanttoEngland’s PhilNeville.
A formercoachofthe Canadian
U17andU20 teams,Priestmanknew
heryouthfulsquadwell. However, the
Englishwomanwouldnothavetaken the
jobhad theFootball Association opted
topromote herwhenNeville quit.The
FAinstead poachedtheDutchEuro
2017 winnerSarinaWiegman.Itseemed
a coupatthe time,buttherewillnow
beaddedpressure on Wiegmanat
nextsummer’shome-hostedEuros
toprovethe FA wereright.
Havingdrawn with Canada,despite
Canada legend...
ChristineSinclairTop scorer...
Netherlands’
Vivianne
Miedema
hitten goalsfieldinganunderstrengthteam,an
English-dominatedTeamGBmay
feeltheOlympicswerealsoa missed
opportunity. Despite limitedpreparation
TeamGBhadlookedgood,defeating
ChileandJapantoqualifyaheadofthe
Canadamatch.Theythenled Australia
2-1 withtwominutesremaininginthe
quarter-final.ButdespiteHegeRiise’s
sidedefendingingrowingnumbersthey
somehowleftSamKerrwith spaceand
timeinthebox,andsuffered the
inevitableconsequence.
KerrstruckagainasAustralia
won 4 -3.TeamGBwereleftwiththe
memoryof outstandingperformances
fromtheevergreenScotKimLittle,tyro
wingerLaurenHemp, andtheclinical
EllenWhite,whoscoredsixgoalsin
fourgamesincludinga hat-trick
against Australia.Australiawentontoa narrowdefeat
against Swedeninthesemi-finalsbut
leftfullof hopeforthe 2023 Women’s
WorldCupwhichtheyco-hostwithNew
Zealand– whose teamdidrespectably
giventheirminimalpreparation.
Exceptfor thematchesinvolvingthe
eventualwinners,it wasa tournamentofgoals,notablyfor theNetherlandswho
defeatedZambia 10 -3and China 8-2,
anddrew3-3 with Braziland 2-2with
theUS.VivianneMiedema scoredten,
butwas oneoftwo Dutchplayersto
missastheylostthequarter-final
penaltyshootouttotheUS.However,
thekeymoment wasAlyssaNaeher
savingLiekeMartens’spot-kickat2-2
withnineminutesleft of theregular 90.
Zambia’sBarbra Banda hada
remarkabletournamentwithhat-tricks
against theNetherlandsand China,
wheresheplaysinShanghai.Wang
Shuangscoredfourinthe lattertie
butthe 4-4draweffectivelyeliminated
a disappointingChineseteam.
Ofthe South Americans,Brazil
lookedpotentinthe groupstage
butwereanotherteamsuffocated
byCanada,losingthequarter-finalon
penalties,whileChilemadea creditable
debutwitha trioofnarrowdefeats.
Hosts Japan were underwhelming.
Theabsenceoffans(onlyRifuofthe
sixvenuesallowed spectators,andthat
cappedata fewthousand)affected
themandtheyonly wononeoftheir
fourmatches.Itwas,however, an
achievementtoputon thefootball
tournamentgiventhe constraints of the
pandemic.Withawidergeographical
spreadthananyotherOlympicevent
theriskofCOVID-19wassignificant, but
fortunatelytheonlyinfectiousoutbreak
wasfootballfeverinCanada.Heartbreak...beaten finalistsSweden were thetournament’soutstandingteam“Ifagoldmedaldoesn’tchangesomethingsinourcountry,nothing’sgoingto...it’stimewegetaprofessionalleagueorsomeprofessionalteams”CanadacaptainChristineSinclair