MARSEILLE, France — The mercurial Canadian women’s soccer team faces Germany in a do-or-die quarterfinal game Saturday (1 p.m. ET) at the 67,394-seat Orange Velodrome in Marseille. It’s the undefeated world No. 8 ranked and heavily sanctioned Canada’s third straight must-win contest in France. The No. 4 Germans won impressively over Australia and Zambia, but got smashed by the United States in the group stage. Get this – defending champ Canada is riding a 10-game Olympic winning streak. Their last defeat? A 2-0 loss to Germany in the semifinal at the Rio 2016 Games.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Canada: Beat New Zealand 2-1; Beat France 2-1; Beat Colombia 1-0.
Germany: Beat Australia 3-0; Lost to United States 4-1; Beat Zambia 4-1.
BACK-TO-BACK
You’ll be watching the last two Olympic gold medalists. Canada won it in Tokyo three years ago while scoring a grand total of two goals in three knockout stage matches – both on penalty kicks by current captain Jessie Fleming. Germany didn’t qualify for the 2020 Games but beat poor Sweden (who finished second in consecutive Olympics) 2-1 in the 2016 Rio final. The Germans also have three straight bronze medals (2000, ‘04, ‘08) while Canada is rocking a three-Games medal streak (one gold, two bronze). Germany also has two women’s World Cup titles to its name (2003, ‘07).
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Canada has lost seven of the past nine meetings, although a lot of those were international friendlies. The Canadians are 0-2 all-time against Germany in the women’s World Cup, though legendary Christine Sinclair famously scored against them in a 2-1 loss in 2011 after having her nose broken by a German foe. Canada was the only team to beat Germany on a Melissa Tancredi brace in the group stage in Rio, but the Germans got their revenge in the semifinal on their way to gold
THE DIFFERENCE
It will be Canada’s big and intimidating back line against Germany’s multi-faceted attack.The Germans have eight goals in three games and six different scorers. Bayern Munich’s Lea Schuller is the only multi-goal getter with three. But Germany is wading through inconsistent form and knows it will be facing a motivated team inspired by centre-back Vanessa Gilles’ timely scoring. Canada already beat No. 2 ranked France so it has confidence it can play with anyone. The Canadians have fallen behind early twice, but also haven’t given up a second-half goal yet. That’s a nice quality to have when the games get tight late.
OLYMPIC SOCCER QUARTERFINALS
(Women’s tournament)
Saturday
United States (3-0) vs. Japan (2-1), 9 a.m. (ET) in Paris
Americans back in business after World Cup hiccup last year.
Spain (3-0) vs. Colombia (1-2), 11 a.m. (ET) in Lyon
Spaniards have only allowed one goal – and that was 13 minutes into the opener against Japan.
Canada (3-0) vs. Germany (2-1), 1 p.m. (ET) in Marseille
Last two gold medalists battle.
Spain (3-0) vs. France (2-1), 3 p.m. (ET) in Nantes
You’ve got world No. 1 vs. the hosts.