Favourite Links:

 

SOCCER MEDIA REPORTS:

 

CANADA FACES USA IN QUARTER FINALS

 

By Doug Smith Torstar   12th August 2008

 

The news reached the women of Canada's Olympic soccer team about an hour before they took the pitch to face Sweden here today: They were in the quarter-finals and step one of their goal had been achieved.

 

But the task of winning a medal has become more difficult now after today's 2-1 loss in the final game of the preliminary round.

 

Canada, which finishes third in Group E, will play the United States in the quarter-finals Friday in Shanghai. Canada had a 1-1-1 record in group play and finished behind Sweden and China.

 

"It's never boring to play them," said head coach Even Pellerud. "It's going to be another key game between two teams that know each other very well and a team that is used to winning, the U.S.A."

 

Canada took to the pitch at Worker's Stadium in front of a crowd of more than 45,000 after hearning news that Germany got an 86th minute goal to beat Korea in a game earlier Tuesday.

 

That took Korea out of the hunt for one of two berths available to third-place finishers in the preliminary round.

 

"I think it'll hit me later," said Canadian defender Rhian Wilkinson. "To be frank, I'm still pretty annoyed about the loss. I didn't think we played our best soccer tonight so it's kind of this mixture of emotions right now.

"I'm thrilled that we're through. I'm really excited about that, but I'm going to have to let my annoyance go before I can really enjoy it."

 

Sweden jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the 19th minute when Lotta Schelin ran onto a nice pass from Victoria Svenson and easily beat Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod. Schelin struck again in the 51st minute as Jessica Landstrom out-ran the Canadian defence to a through ball, tipped it over to Schelin who had little more to do than nudge the ball into the net.

 

Tancredi, who had missed the second preliminary round game with a bad left ankle, got Canada within one in the 64th minute when she converted an Amy Walsh pass with a lovely diving header.

 

Canada had the run of play early in the game and created a handful of good scoring chances. But the Swedes, who finished 2-1 in the preliminary round – dropping a surprise decision to China in their first game – made the most of their chances while Canada didn't.

 

"We played very well, it was a high-level soccer game between two very strong teams," said Pellerud. "There was more at stake for Sweden, of course, you could see they were very pumped up for the task.

 

"We had qualified but the players kept their focus very well and as a coach, I see this as another strong performance, very consistent, a very well-focused performance. There is no complaint from my side."