By Andrew Warshaw
July 28 – On a somewhat disappointing opening day of sport for the host nation, Team GB’s women’s team – playing in their first ever Olympics – bucked the trend by doing their country proud to reach the quarterfinals along with gold medal contenders Brazil, who they play for top spot in Group E on Tuesday (July 31).
Hope Powell’s side, getting better with every game, were too strong for African champions Cameroon and won 3-0 in front of 31,000 fans at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, to follow up their historic 1-0 win against New Zealand on the first day of sporting action at the Games on Wednesday (July 25).
“I don’t think you can really put it into words,” said Jill Scott (pictured top, in blue), one of the Team GB scorers.
“We’re looking forward to going to the Olympic Village and playing Brazil at Wembley.
“You can’t get any bigger than that.”
Brazil earlier became the first team to reach the last eight but struggled to find their rhythm and only managed to edge past the Kiwis thanks a solitary late goal from all-time Olympic top scorer Cristiane (pictured below, in green).
Also qualifying, with two straight wins, were reigning champions the United States, eager to make up for their shock defeat to Japan in last year’s World Cup final.
The Americans beat Colombia 3-0 but there was frustration for the Japanese who, in their group, could only manage a goalless draw against Sweden in a repeat of their World Cup encounter in Germany in 2011, which Japan won 3-1.
The women’s competition, unlike the men’s, is open to players of all ages with the top two from each of the three groups and the best two third-placed teams going into the knockout stages.
In other games, Canada kept alive their hopes of qualifying as two goals from their record goalscorer Christine Sinclair (pictured below, on left) helped them to a comfortable 3-0 win over South Africa.
But the biggest scorers of the night were France who netted four in the last 20 minutes to stun North Korea 5-0 and set up an enticing finale in Group G, with both on three points behind the US.
North Korean coach Sin Ui Gun believed the late kick-off in his country’s previous match may have affected preparations.
In what has become a well-chronicled affair, organisers accidentally displayed South Korea’s flag on stadium screens at Hampden Park for the match against Colombia, triggering a diplomatic row and prompting a one-hour delay following a protest.
“Because of the delay, we had to finish the game late,” Sin said.
“So maybe it affected our players’ ability today.”
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