Photo courtesy Ryan Remiorz/AP
They couldn’t quite find a satisfactory answer.
The Canadian women’s national team did not look outmatched in their Olympics debut against Japan, but couldn’t overcome the 2011 Women’s World Cup winners where it counted: possession and control.
The match started well, with the Japanese team looking uncomfortable and not incredibly confident. While they are the world champions, scuttlebutt had been that they came into this tournament feeling more vulnerable; a 2-0 shellacking in a friendly against the US did nothing to dispel that notion.
Canada replied to this by using a very physical defensive style, with more bruising tackles. (Kaylyn Kyle really should have picked up a penalty.) And it worked, for a time, in terms of putting them off their game offensively. But Canada were playing an incredibly cautious style when Japan didn’t have much going, and so found it a challenge to create anything.
That’s not to say that Japan didn’t have it together on the defensive side of the ball. They spent the match essentially marking Christine Sinclair out of existence, and what really made their game rock-solid was their midfielders’ ability to defend high up the pitch.
Japan’s second goal, just before half-time, is what put the game out of reach in terms of a group-stage win. (This was Canada’s true low-point, as it served as punishment for blowing a defensive assignment.) But Canada, through Melissa Tancredi, did well to score a goal in the second half; because only the best two of the three groups’ third-placed finishers advanced, Canada has got to keep games tight against higher-seeded Japan and Sweden.
And just pummel South Africa on Saturday.
Stats after the jump.