The quarter-finals of the women’s football tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics will begin on Saturday as the last eight teams battle it out for a place in the semi-finals.
The group stage came to a close earlier this week as New Zealand, Australia, Zambia and Nigeria all bowed out. USA, Japan, France, Spain, Colombia, Brazil, Canada and Germany all advanced to the knockout stage.
Before what should be an exciting day of football, 90 min he predicted Saturday’s games and the possibility of going to the last four.
Four-time gold medalists USA are among the favorites to repeat and win the top prize in Paris. Under the leadership of Brit and former Chelsea manager Emma Hayes, they have returned to form and are firing on all cylinders after their shock early exit from the World Cup 12 months ago.
Japan, on the other hand, finished second in its group behind Spain but remains one of the strongest players still standing. This is the longest rivalry in the women’s game, although the US usually comes out on top with 28 of 37 victories.
There is no doubt that it will be a tough and hotly contested affair between two of the world’s most powerful countries. However, given USA’s recent revival under Hayes, they may be able to pull it off.
Prediction: USA 2-1 Japan
One of the matches that appeared in the quarterfinals is the match between Spain and Colombia. The 2023 World Cup winners are in terrific form and will be tough opponents for anyone at this summer’s games.
Colombia’s World Cup hopes were ended by England in the quarter-finals last summer and it could be the same story at the Olympics. Spain are looking awful at the moment, but it’s important to note that Colombia will be boosted by the return of Mayra Ramirez after the Chelsea striker was handed a two-match ban following a red card against France in their group opener.
Prediction: Spain 3-0 Colombia
It’s been an amazing campaign in Canada so far, but for all the wrong reasons. Their time in France has been marred by controversy following the spy scandal and they were left without coach Beverly Priestman.
However, the team worked on the field despite the setbacks and recovered from a six-point deficit to finish second in their group, eventually progressing to the knockout stages. They are close to retaining the Olympic title they wanted in Tokyo a few years ago.
On the other hand, Germany finished second in their group behind the USA and was beaten hard by Hayes’ team. The glimmer of vulnerability shown in the group stage means this won’t be an outright victory for Horst Hrubesch’s side, but they should come out on top.
Prediction: Canada 2-3 Germany
Hosts France will be looking to perform well in front of their home crowd on Saturday. However, even though they finished top of the group, it was a loss of points for Canada and in fact they were beaten by their opponents in their second game.
Brazil have progressed as one of the best third-place teams, so they are definite underdogs going into Saturday’s match. They will be without taliswoman and legend Marta in their quarter-final match after being sent off in their last group game.
Prediction: France 2-0 Brazil
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