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Canada 2 – 2 Sweden
Canada fought back from being two goals down in an emphatic 2-2 draw against Sweden, earning a berth to the Olympic quarter-finals.
Melissa Tancredi scored nearing the end of each half for a dramatic finish. The goal in the 43' is arguably one of the best by the CanWNT in recent memory. Building from deep in the midfield, Diana Matheson and Desiree Scott forced a Swedish turnover; the ball was worked around the pitch from Marie-Eve Nault to Tancredi, Sophie Schmidt, Jonelle Filigno, Rhian Wilkinson, Christine Sinclair and back to Wilkinson for the killer cross to Tancredi as she came crashing into the 6-yard box.
With 7 minutes from the end of regulation, Sinclair delivered a cross bending towards goal. Both Tancredi and second half substitute Kaylyn Kyle were heavily marked, but Tancredi managed to throw her body into the play for the slightest of touches and head in the equalizer.
Tancredi has now scored a tournament-leading 4 goals. Canada's other 2 goals have come from Sinclair.
Kicking off the attack and a series of near perfect service by Sinclair, her cross in the 6' dropped into space between the Swedish defence and goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl. Tancredi narrowly missed getting a touch on the ball.
Twelve minutes in, it was Matheson who set up the play with a through ball for Sincalir to run on to. Lindahl was a step ahead to make a sliding tackle. The rebound fell to Filigno, but her lofted ball was cleared.
Upon the ensuing corner kick, played short by Canada, Lauren Sesselmann sent her header high.
Moments later Kosovare Asllani's shot from distance forced a diving save from Erin McLeod. Sweden then followed up with a goal by Marie Hammarstrom. After taking a throw in in the Canadian third, Linda Nilsson was left unmarked to send in a cross for Hammarstrom to side foot into the net.
Sweden's defence initiated their counterattack in the 16'. Once the ball was worked up field, Hammarstrom became the provider with a cross into the box. McLeod dove but missed the punch, leaving the ball for Sofia Jakobsson to score.
The action didn't let down in the second half. In the 48', Tancredi ran on to another great Canadian through ball, but sent her shot into Lindahl. Filigno's follow up was kick saved by a defender.
Sweden was quick in transition on a number of occasions. Their attack in the 58' began with Lindhal's goal kick, which landed between Canada's central defence and right to forward Lotta Schelin. As she steered the bouncing ball to the near side, her shot had McLeod beaten but the angle of the ball was not in Schelin's favour.
Prior to facing Sweden, Canadian head coach John Herdman shared his childhood memories with the team of regularly attending Newcastle United matches at St. James' Park with his father. Despite giving up two early goals, and perhaps partially buoyed by the feeling of St. James' Park being their home stadium, it was Canada who maintained the better of possession and produced more scoring opportunities. While not buckling under pressure, they ended the match with 9 shots compared to Sweden's 7.
Herdman fielded a more offensively minded team, utilizing three natural forwards: Sinclair as the attacking midfielder with Filigno and Tancredi up top. Two alternates were called up for official roster changes due to injuries: Nault replaced Emily Zurrer (hamstring) and Melanie Booth replaced of Candace Chapman (calf).
Having finished third in Group F (1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss), Canada is gearing up to face Great Britain (i.e. England 2.0) in the knockout stage at 2:30pm ET on Friday, August 3 back at the City of Coventry Stadium. Great Britain advanced to the quarter-finals by topping Group E, defeating New Zealand, Cameroon and Brazil and scoring 5 goals while allowing 0 along the way.
In Great Britain's final group match, they won 1-0 over Brazil on a Stephanie Houghton goal in front of a record setting 70,000+ crowd at Wembley Stadium. The previous attendance record in England for a women's soccer match was just over 29,000.
Prior to the start of the Olympics, match 22, which is now between Canada and Great Britain, was initially scheduled to air live on OLN in Canada. However, with the magnitude of Canada being in the knockout stage, the match could be potentially shifted to a more prominent channel.
The winner of Canada vs. Great Britain will then play the winner of USA vs. New Zealand on Monday, August 6.
Other quarter-final matches include Sweden vs. France and Brazil vs. Japan. Eliminated from the Olympics are Cameroon, Colombia, Korea DPR and South Africa.
While pursuing a career in non-profit event planning and fundraising,
Lissa provides in depth coverage of the CanWNT for All White Kit and
RedNation.
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