Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Sao Paulo: Australia have the quality to win its first Olympic football medal but must first navigate a difficult test against Canada, according to star midfielder Emily van Egmond.
Speaking from Sao Paulo, where Australia will begin their Group F Olympic campaign on August 3, van Egmond spoke highly of a Canadian side that reached the quarter-finals of last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup on home soil.
“Canada are a very good team,” she said
“I think they are going to be quite physical, dangerous off set pieces and they have a couple of key players we’re going to have to look out for.”
One of those key players is likely to be Christine Sinclair. The veteran forward has racked up an extraordinary 162 international goals, second only to Abby Wambach on the all-time list.
Australia qualified impressively for the 2016 Olympics, and despite Sunday’s 3-1 friendly loss to host nation Brazil, van Egmond believes the Matildas are capable of progressing deep into the tournament.
Asia’s Olympics hopefuls announce Rio 2016 squads
“We have the potential and the talent within this to group to medal, definitely,” The 2014 Australian W-League player of the year said.
“The most important thing for this group is to focus on the group games and Canada up first is a big task for us.”
GROUP F: Canada, Australia, Zimbabwe, Germany
August 3 15:00 Canada v Australia (Sao Paulo)
August 3 18:00 Zimbabwe v Germany (Sao Paulo)
August 6 15:00 Canada v Zimbabwe (Sao Paulo)
August 6 18:00 Germany v Australia (Sao Paulo)
August 9 16:00 Germany v Canada (Brasilia)
August 9 16:00 Australia v Zimbabwe (Salvador)