The group stage of the Olympic football tournament for women is already over after all 12 teams played their third and final match to decide the final result.
Eight of the 12 have advanced to the quarterfinals, with Sweden again impressive, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Brazil all finished with seven points and the USA stuttered again.
Here is a complete summary of the final results and a summary of who has qualified for knockouts …
Canada 1-1 Great Britain: Player rating when Team GB set up a quarter final with Australia
Player rating for Team GB against Canada in the 2020 Olympics, including Jill Scott, Lucy Bronze, Leah Williamson, Caroline Weir & more.
Matt O’Connor-Simpson
|
14.05 GMT + 1Olympics women’s soccer round – match day 2: Great Britain, Sweden and the USA all win
Compilation of the women’s football results at the Olympics from match day two, including the USA, Great Britain, Sweden, Brazil and Australia.
Jamie Spencer
|
July 24, 2021Japan 0-1 Great Britain: Team GB players’ ratings from a patient victory over the hosts
Player rating for Team GB vs. Japan, including Ellen White, Lucy Bronze, Lauren Hemp, Caroline Weir & more.
Jamie Spencer
|
July 24, 2021 Olympic women’s football round – match day 1: Sweden, Brazil and Great Britain have big wins
Women’s soccer round from match day one of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo – including Team GB, USWNT, Sweden, the Netherlands and Australia.
Jamie Spencer
|
July 21, 2021
Chile 0-1 Japan
Japan got its first victory in the competition / Koki Nagahama / Getty Images
Japan ensured that they will not leave their home Olympics early and secured their first victory in the tournament against Chile to finish in third place in Group E and comfortably pick up one of the last places in the knockout bracket.
Mina Tanaka scored the only goal of the game, but Japan had to wait until the 77th minute for it. Without it, a draw would still have been enough to get through due to other results elsewhere, although the victory will gain a little more confidence.
Chile goes home without points after losing all three group matches.
Canada 1-1 Great Britain
Caroline Weir was the savior of Team GB / Atsushi Tomura / Getty Images
Great Britain won Group E and remained undefeated thanks to a late equalizer from Caroline Weir against Canada, which follows them in second place – also without losing a game.
Canada actually took the lead early in the second half thanks to West Ham forward Adriana Leon and would have topped the position themselves if it had stayed that way.
But GB hit back and it was Weir’s deflected effort from reach during the last 10 minutes that gave Hege Riise’s team the result they were looking for.
Netherlands 8-2 China
Free-scoring Netherlands blows away China / Francois Nel / Getty Images
Another goal route from the Netherlands saw them take their number over three group games to an astonishing 21, while China, on the other hand, has conceded 17 times in its three games.
The result line was not very one-sided until the second half, where the Dutch only led 3-1 in the interval. But Lieke Martens and Vivianne Miedema both scored in the second half, while Victoria Pelova also came into the action.
This is the first time that China has failed to make it through the knockout rounds of an Olympics since 2004, and only the second time they have failed to win at least one match.
Brazil 1-0 Zambia
Brazil won over Zambia / Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images
Brazil scored free goals in their first two matches, but a 1-0 victory over Zambia still ensured that they entered the knockout rounds with the joint second best record for any team in the competition.
Andressa Alves scored the only goal early in the competition and only one impossible path would have been enough for Brazil to improve the Dutch’s very superior goal difference. The pair finished level at seven points but the latter goes through in first place.
Zambia drew blank for the first time in this tournament, with Barbra Banda previously doing back-to-back hat-tricks against the Netherlands and China.
New Zealand 0-2 Sweden
Sweden ended the group game with maximum points / Koki Nagahama / Getty Images
Sweden is the only team to end the group stage with maximum points after previous victories against the USA and Australia preceded this 2-0 victory over New Zealand.
This will always be the most favorable match for the Swedes and a first half goal each from the new Everton contract Anna Anvegard and Madelen Janogy made it a comfortable competition.
New Zealand was always against it in this group but lack of preparation due to the coronavirus pandemic made it even harder.
USA 0-0 Australia
Nothing different between the US and Australia / Brad Smith / ISI Photos / Getty Images
Despite New Zealand putting the sword on match day two, the United States continued to fight in this competition as they were held in a goalless draw by an elastic Australia.
In a draw, both the Americans and the Australians saw a level of four points, with the goal difference alone leaving the previous second place and a guaranteed place in the knockout phase.
That meant third place for Australia, but their four-point meeting was still enough to get through.
Great Britain, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Brazil, Sweden, USA, Australia.
For more from Jamie Spencer, follow him on Twitter and Facebook!
