Since it is only 9 hours until the Rio Olympics kick off, it is perhaps about time to open a thread about the sport that will get the whole thing started.
FIFA Women's Olympic Football Site:
http://www.fifa.com/womensolympic/
IOC Olympics Football Site:
https://www.rio2016.com/en/football
2016 Olympics Football Match Schedule (Men and Women):
http://resources.fifa.com/mm/docume...io_matchschedulemix_fifa_02052016_neutral.pdf
The women’s football tournament has the potential of being hard to predict.
For every World Cup and Olympics since 2011, the final has been contested between Japan and the USA:
However, both teams had quite a few significant players retire after the 2015 World Cup. And, perhaps because of this, we have already had our first shock of the tournament:
JAPAN DID NOT QUALIFY!!!!
They finished third in their qualifying tournament, behind Australia and China. And only the top 2 go to Rio.
Normally, the Algarve Cup and the Cyprus Cup are the tournaments that the teams use to build up to a World Cup, Olympics or European Championships. But this year there was a third tournament as well: the inaugural SheBelieves Cup, held in Florida and Tennessee.
This tournament was different in that only four teams were taking part. And it was played like a league rather than like a knockout tournament. So, each team only played 3 matches! The USA won the title by winning all of their matches.
The significance is that the other teams involved in the tournament were the top 3 teams in Europe – Germany, France and England.
Germany won the silver medal at the SheBelieves Cup. However, they have been going through a transitional period for the past couple of seasons. Quite a few of the players we have been used to seeing in the team have either retired (Nadine Angerer, Célia da Mbabi) or had long-term injuries (Nadine Keßler).
The other thing to note is that it was announced before last year’s World Cup that Sylvia Neid would stepping down as coach after the Olympics, and that Steffi Jones would be replacing her. Since then, Steffi has been having a say in things.
The result of all this was that, at the SheBelieves Cup, there were a lot of players selected that were not regulars in the Senior team. Testing them out to see how they got on. Yet, only 3 of these players have made it into the Olympic team. It is also interesting to note that two of these relative newcomers are in their late twenties. The only younger player to come in is the reserve goalkeeper.
France also used the SheBelieves Cup to try out new players. But, their tournament was not as successful. They finished bottom of the table. However, I actually fancy France to be the top European team.
For a start, it wasn’t a straightforward “finishing last”. France were actually level with England on points and goal difference. But, England got the bronze medal because they managed to score against France.
The French national team has traditionally drawn most of it’s players from the top 2 teams in the French league – Olymique Lyonnais and Paris Saint Germain. And this year, both these teams reached the Semi-Finals of this year’s UEFA Champions League. Unfortunately, they ended up playing each other. Lyon won comprehensively (8 – 0!!!), and played German team (and reigning champions) VfL Wolfsburg in the final. And, although it had to go to penalties before they won the title, Lyon actually dominated play.
England are currently the second highest ranked team in Europe, but are not eligible for the Olympics. Because London hosted the 2012 Olympics, the football associations in all of the Home Nations agreed to have a Great Britain team. However, the Men’s team turned out to be an England team with 5 Welsh players, and the Women’s team turned out to be an England team with 2 Scottish players. This did not go down well with the football associations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. So, they refused to agree to it happening again for Rio.
The result is that the remaining European slot went to Sweden. A few years ago, it would have been assumed that Sweden would be the third highest ranked team in Europe. But, they have not been doing well in the past couple of seasons.
Sweden’s problem in Rio could be that they are in the same group as Brazil and China. And only the top 2 in each group are guaranteed a place in the knockout stages. Of the three third placed-teams, only two go through.
Brazil have made it to the Semi-Finals for every Olympics except 2012, and were runners-up in 2004 and 2008. They finished 6[SUP]th[/SUP] in the 2012 Olympics, one place ahead of Sweden. But, at last year’s World Cup, they were the top team eliminated in the Last 16, whereas Sweden were the bottom team eliminated in the Last 16. China didn’t qualify for the 2012 Olympics, but were one place above Brazil in the 2015 World Cup.
Brazil finished second to Canada in the Algarve Cup in March. And being the hosts of these Olympics could provide a boost. Equally, being the host could put too much pressure on them. You just never know!
Canada finished third in the 2012 Olympics. Although they did not reach the Semi-Finals when they hosted the World Cup last year (they were beat by England in the Quarter-Finals), they were still playing well, finishing 6[SUP]th[/SUP] overall.
Another team that were playing well in the World Cup but did not get past the Quarter-Finals (they were beaten by runners-up Japan) was Australia. The Aussies finished the World Cup just one point behind Canada in 7[SUP]th[/SUP] place.
The problem is that Australia and Canada are both in Group F, the same group as Germany. So, one of them will probably have to wait and see how things go in the other groups.
New Zealand are a team that I would normally advise you to keep an eye on. They finished 8[SUP]th[/SUP] in the 2012 Olympics, and 4[SUP]th[/SUP] in the 2016 Algarve Cup. However, they didn’t get past the group stage in the 2015 World Cup, and only finished 19[SUP]th[/SUP] out of the 24 teams.
The main problem for New Zealand, though, is that they are in the same group as the USA and France. And the other teams that I have already mentioned are all much higher than them in the FIFA rankings, and all finished above New Zealand in the 2015 World Cup and/or 2012 Olympics. So, I don’t think they will get the chance to get through to the knockout stages.
The other team in Group G are in the same position. Colombia have the lowest FIFA ranking of all the teams I have mentioned so far, and finished second to last in the last Olympics. But they actually did quite well at last year’s World Cup, finishing 12[SUP]th[/SUP] overall. They have the potential to make it through, but probably won’t.
I haven’t mentioned the two African teams (Zimbabwe and South Africa), because I don’t know anything about either of them. Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria or Cameroon are the countries that normally provide the teams we see at the big global tournaments. But none of them qualified this time.
So, all in all, it could turn out to be a closer tournament than we are used to, and we could have a few surprises along the way.
It all starts in the Olympic Stadium in Rio at 13:00 LOC (16:00 GMT / 17:00 BST) with Sweden v South Africa.
(The men's tournament starts at the same time tomorrow. But, since I won't be watching, somebody else can start a thread about it).
CaroLiza_fan
FIFA Women's Olympic Football Site:
http://www.fifa.com/womensolympic/
IOC Olympics Football Site:
https://www.rio2016.com/en/football
2016 Olympics Football Match Schedule (Men and Women):
http://resources.fifa.com/mm/docume...io_matchschedulemix_fifa_02052016_neutral.pdf
The women’s football tournament has the potential of being hard to predict.
For every World Cup and Olympics since 2011, the final has been contested between Japan and the USA:
Tournament | Winner | Score | Runner-Up |
2011 World Cup | Japan | 2 – 2 (3 – 1 penalties) | USA |
2012 Olympics | USA | 2 – 1 | Japan |
2015 World Cup | USA | 5 – 2 | Japan |
However, both teams had quite a few significant players retire after the 2015 World Cup. And, perhaps because of this, we have already had our first shock of the tournament:
JAPAN DID NOT QUALIFY!!!!
They finished third in their qualifying tournament, behind Australia and China. And only the top 2 go to Rio.
Normally, the Algarve Cup and the Cyprus Cup are the tournaments that the teams use to build up to a World Cup, Olympics or European Championships. But this year there was a third tournament as well: the inaugural SheBelieves Cup, held in Florida and Tennessee.
This tournament was different in that only four teams were taking part. And it was played like a league rather than like a knockout tournament. So, each team only played 3 matches! The USA won the title by winning all of their matches.
The significance is that the other teams involved in the tournament were the top 3 teams in Europe – Germany, France and England.
Germany won the silver medal at the SheBelieves Cup. However, they have been going through a transitional period for the past couple of seasons. Quite a few of the players we have been used to seeing in the team have either retired (Nadine Angerer, Célia da Mbabi) or had long-term injuries (Nadine Keßler).
The other thing to note is that it was announced before last year’s World Cup that Sylvia Neid would stepping down as coach after the Olympics, and that Steffi Jones would be replacing her. Since then, Steffi has been having a say in things.
The result of all this was that, at the SheBelieves Cup, there were a lot of players selected that were not regulars in the Senior team. Testing them out to see how they got on. Yet, only 3 of these players have made it into the Olympic team. It is also interesting to note that two of these relative newcomers are in their late twenties. The only younger player to come in is the reserve goalkeeper.
France also used the SheBelieves Cup to try out new players. But, their tournament was not as successful. They finished bottom of the table. However, I actually fancy France to be the top European team.
For a start, it wasn’t a straightforward “finishing last”. France were actually level with England on points and goal difference. But, England got the bronze medal because they managed to score against France.
The French national team has traditionally drawn most of it’s players from the top 2 teams in the French league – Olymique Lyonnais and Paris Saint Germain. And this year, both these teams reached the Semi-Finals of this year’s UEFA Champions League. Unfortunately, they ended up playing each other. Lyon won comprehensively (8 – 0!!!), and played German team (and reigning champions) VfL Wolfsburg in the final. And, although it had to go to penalties before they won the title, Lyon actually dominated play.
England are currently the second highest ranked team in Europe, but are not eligible for the Olympics. Because London hosted the 2012 Olympics, the football associations in all of the Home Nations agreed to have a Great Britain team. However, the Men’s team turned out to be an England team with 5 Welsh players, and the Women’s team turned out to be an England team with 2 Scottish players. This did not go down well with the football associations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. So, they refused to agree to it happening again for Rio.
The result is that the remaining European slot went to Sweden. A few years ago, it would have been assumed that Sweden would be the third highest ranked team in Europe. But, they have not been doing well in the past couple of seasons.
Sweden’s problem in Rio could be that they are in the same group as Brazil and China. And only the top 2 in each group are guaranteed a place in the knockout stages. Of the three third placed-teams, only two go through.
Brazil have made it to the Semi-Finals for every Olympics except 2012, and were runners-up in 2004 and 2008. They finished 6[SUP]th[/SUP] in the 2012 Olympics, one place ahead of Sweden. But, at last year’s World Cup, they were the top team eliminated in the Last 16, whereas Sweden were the bottom team eliminated in the Last 16. China didn’t qualify for the 2012 Olympics, but were one place above Brazil in the 2015 World Cup.
Brazil finished second to Canada in the Algarve Cup in March. And being the hosts of these Olympics could provide a boost. Equally, being the host could put too much pressure on them. You just never know!
Canada finished third in the 2012 Olympics. Although they did not reach the Semi-Finals when they hosted the World Cup last year (they were beat by England in the Quarter-Finals), they were still playing well, finishing 6[SUP]th[/SUP] overall.
Another team that were playing well in the World Cup but did not get past the Quarter-Finals (they were beaten by runners-up Japan) was Australia. The Aussies finished the World Cup just one point behind Canada in 7[SUP]th[/SUP] place.
The problem is that Australia and Canada are both in Group F, the same group as Germany. So, one of them will probably have to wait and see how things go in the other groups.
New Zealand are a team that I would normally advise you to keep an eye on. They finished 8[SUP]th[/SUP] in the 2012 Olympics, and 4[SUP]th[/SUP] in the 2016 Algarve Cup. However, they didn’t get past the group stage in the 2015 World Cup, and only finished 19[SUP]th[/SUP] out of the 24 teams.
The main problem for New Zealand, though, is that they are in the same group as the USA and France. And the other teams that I have already mentioned are all much higher than them in the FIFA rankings, and all finished above New Zealand in the 2015 World Cup and/or 2012 Olympics. So, I don’t think they will get the chance to get through to the knockout stages.
The other team in Group G are in the same position. Colombia have the lowest FIFA ranking of all the teams I have mentioned so far, and finished second to last in the last Olympics. But they actually did quite well at last year’s World Cup, finishing 12[SUP]th[/SUP] overall. They have the potential to make it through, but probably won’t.
I haven’t mentioned the two African teams (Zimbabwe and South Africa), because I don’t know anything about either of them. Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria or Cameroon are the countries that normally provide the teams we see at the big global tournaments. But none of them qualified this time.
So, all in all, it could turn out to be a closer tournament than we are used to, and we could have a few surprises along the way.
It all starts in the Olympic Stadium in Rio at 13:00 LOC (16:00 GMT / 17:00 BST) with Sweden v South Africa.
(The men's tournament starts at the same time tomorrow. But, since I won't be watching, somebody else can start a thread about it).
CaroLiza_fan
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