*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change
The knockout stages of the Women’s Olympic football begins Friday morning with some big names facing off against each other. In this round of matches we’ll see Team GB taking on Australia and Sweden taking on hosts, Japan.
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Netherlands must face the USA and in the first match of the day Canada will be taking on Brazil. We’ve gone through these matches and found a best bet for every game that could get our weekend off to a very nice start indeed.
9am: Canada vs Brazil: Brazil to Win
Canada finished just behind Team GB in Group E on five points to GB’s seven. Indeed they came close to topping the group having lead Team GB 1-0 until the 85th minute in the final group match. Over their three games Canada have won one and drawn two, scoring four and conceding three.
Brazil also came second in their group but finished level with Netherlands on seven points after winning two and drawing one of their games. They scored a healthy nine goals and conceded three. Netherlands scored a blistering 21 goals, completely destroying Zambia 3-10 and China 8-2 over their games.
Brazil are the favourites here thanks to their superior form and these sides have met five times over the last three years with Canada winning just one, Brazil two and two ended level. Canada’s lack of goals is worrying here, they’ve only scored four compared to Brazil’s nine and in those previous five head to head games they failed to score in three of them. We have to go with the Canarinhas to Win here.
10am: Team GB vs Australia: Under 2.5 Goals
As winners of their group, Team GB were given the favourable match against one of the best-placed third placed teams. Australia came third in Group G, winning one, drawing one and losing one of their three games, scoring four goals and conceding five.
Team GB topped their group with two wins and one draw, scoring four and conceding one. They’ve been a little light on goals it must be said and in their final game against Canada they looked bereft of ideas going forward, this game will tell if that Canada match can be put down to a bad day at the office or if it’s a deeper problem.
As mentioned already both sides only scored four goals over their three Group Stage games and Team GB in particular have shown to be resilient at the back, conceding just the one goal. We can’t see many goals here, we’re going with Unders, a bet that would have won in four of their six combined games.
11am: Sweden vs Japan: Sweden to Win to Nil
Sweden are odds-on favourites to win here. They’re the only team left in the competition with a perfect record with three wins from three, scoring nine and conceding just two goals. Japan qualified being the best of the third-placed teams with one win, one draw and one loss, scoring just two goals and conceding two as well.
The sides haven’t met since 2016 so there’s not much point in comparing a historical record but formwise it’s hard to look past Sweden who are now unbeaten over their last 15 games (including friendlies), winning 12, drawing three.
Japan’s preparations for the finals saw them recording some good results but all, except a 1-0 win over Australia, were against pretty lowly-ranked teams. Their lack of goals, just two over the tournament so far, coming up against probably the best defence in the competition means Sweden to Win to Nil has the value here.
12pm: Netherlands vs USA: Netherlands to Win
This is the glamour tie of the round, Netherlands have been mighty fun to watch, winning two and drawing one in their Group Stage matches, scoring an incredible 21 goals and conceding eight. USA have been a bit Jekyll and Hyde, losing 3-0 to Sweden then thrashing New Zealand 1-6 and then drawing a blank with Australia.
Of course, USA are still the favourites to win the competition but Netherlands have shown that they have the firepower to go the distance in the competition. It’s been rather unusual to see the US have two games without scoring and it’s plain to see that something has not been right with the team.
Going up against the team with the best goal-scoring record they could well have their work cut out for them. We’re going with the form side here and Netherlands to Win.
Friday’s Olympic football tips
9am: Canada vs Brazil: Brazil to Win
10am: Team GB vs Australia: Under 2.5 Goals
11am: Sweden vs Japan: Sweden to Win to Nil
12pm: Netherlands vs USA: Netherlands to Win
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change
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