We’re now another step closer to the Women’s Soccer Summer Olympic tournament in London after this morning’s draw at Wembley Stadium.
Here’s how the groups break down for the tournament (FIFA world ranking in parentheses):
Group E: Great Britain (9), New Zealand (24), Cameroon (52), Brazil (4)
Group F: Japan (3), Canada (7), Sweden (5), South Africa (65)
Group G: USA (1), France (6), Colombia (28), Korea DPR (8)
Some quick thoughts about the groups:
* Out of the top 4 teams, Brazil received probably the best draw by avoiding an early matchup with the USWNT, Japan, Sweden or France. Their biggest challenger will be the hosts, Great Britain.
* Oh Canada. What a draw for our neighbors to the north. Japan and Sweden makes for a tough, tough draw for Canada.
* In Group G, the USWNT will have some work ahead of them. Of course, their biggest challenger is the very talented France.
* Most anticipated match: USA vs. France
* Team to watch out for: France. Throw the FIFA rankings out the window. While everyone will be talking about the USWNT and Japan, France is poised to have an excellent tournament and will definitely be contenders for a medal.
* Player to watch: Alex Morgan, USWNT. Morgan was a part-time player at last year’s Women’s World Cup. Entering the Olympics, Morgan will now be a starter and with that responsibility will come huge expectations. We’ll have to wait and say how she does but I anticipate a tremendous Olympics for the 22-year-old.
Chris Singer
GFT Portland Timbers Blogger. Web designer. Freelancer. MLS Community Manager for @kyckfutbol. Check out my web/book project http://cansoccersavetheworld.com. Follow me on twitter at @futboldaddy.
I am excited about USA v. France match! It’ll be a good test for USWNT out of the gate. We have played North Korea and Colombia before in the World Cup. I am sure our team will not make the mistake of underestimating their competitions.
As for our northern neighbor, I agree with your assessment. It’ll be a tough draw. We have seen them come a long way though so hopefully they’ll pose some challenge to Sweden and even Japan.
I hope to see Great Britain make some progress in their group. Brazil doesn not look as formidable in recent days so I wonder how they will fare against Great Britain and so on. Brazil has decent chances of surviving their group.
Finally, I think it’s a shame that North Korea is allowed to play in this tournament. As we know, they are banned from competing in World Cup 2015. It would have been great to see Australia qualify and compete in the Olympics. It’s also too bad that Germany will not participate this time around. The national team has been on fire in recent tournaments and is only team that has defeated Japan in a post-World Cup tournament.