CANADA SET FOR DRAMATIC GAME VS SWEDEN  29th July 2012

From Canadasoccer.com & Sqizz

Canada gained three big points in its second match at the London 2012 Women's Olympic Football Tournament with Melissa Tancredi and Christine Sinclair leading the way to a 3:0 win over South Africa. Canada remains in third place in Group F with only one match remaining in the group phase, setting the stage for an all-important match against Sweden in Newcastle on Tuesday 31 July.

Reuters photo

"We said winning was the only option today," said Canadian head coach John Herdman. "We hopefully got what we needed. We could have had more, but that's football sometimes."

Sweden and Japan remain on top of Group F with four points each following a goalless 0:0 draw on Saturday 28 July. In Group E, Brazil and Great Britain are the leaders with six points each, following a Brazil 1:0 win over New Zealand and a Great Britain 3:0 win over Cameroon. In Group G, USA leads with six points followed by France and Korea DPR with three points each. On Saturday, USA won 3:0 over Colombia while France won 5:0 over Korea DPR.

The top two finishers from each group as well as the top two third-place finishers will qualify for the quarter-final phase. In Group E, either New Zealand (0 points, -2 after two matches) or Cameroon (0 points, -8) will finish in third place. In Group G, either USA (6 points, +5), France (3 points, +3) or Korea DPR (3 points, -3) will finish in third place.

Now it all comes down to one team, one game, and one result. Canada will need to play better than they played against South Africa. The Canadians seemed to find it difficult to deal with a team that lacked any shape to their game, save pressuring and running after every ball. They will also need some good news on the injury front. One way or another, this could truly be the game that defines this generation of Canadian players.