Photo courtesy Armando Franca/AP

They showed they could be clinical, and that’s all-important coming into the semifinal.

Making their only Olympics quarterfinal appearance, the Canadian women’s soccer team powered past Great Britain 2-0 to secure a spot in the semis against the USA at Old Trafford. The fact that GB were mostly composed of players from England, a squad ranked two spots below Canada, lent some hope ahead of the game, but nobody could have predicted the dominant performance by Canada in Coventry.

In short, Canada played like dominant overdogs, like they never doubted for a moment they could knock the first-and possibly last-ever Team GB out with style. Both goals came from set pieces, which shows the strength of Canada’s preparation and the inability of GB to find a solution for them. Jonelle Filigno’s goal was glorious, a half-volley that floated up into the corner and put Canada ahead early; Christine Sinclair’s free-kick stunner only ranks lower because the GB defense was so disorganized.

The second half was not an offensive masterpiece for Canada, but a defensive one; playing physical, organized soccer, Les Rouges turned away wave after wave of attack from GB and were able to defend in some sticky situations. But the mental battle was won because despite what Britain saw as a coming-out party for the women’s game (because they were doing well), despite their professional league and despite the fact that commentators on both sides of the pond saw this game as a formality, Britain were losing 2-0 and looked to find no way back.

So now Canada is off to Old Trafford, to face an enemy as familiar as they are frustrating for Canada. There are lessons here: The first is to keep playing like they did Friday. They were organized, they were confident, and the believed utterly that they had the ability to beat GB. The second is to react to adversity better than GB did. The US are powerful and will be better organized in defense and more dangerous in attack. If Canada drop behind, they need to keep their heads about them and continue to believe they can find success.

The deck is stacked against Canada, as they’ve lost to the US twice lately and indeed have only ever beat them three times ever. But Canada can afford to play like they have nothing to lose, as a loss doesn’t mean elimination but dropping into the bronze-medal match, where victory would be a fine result. And they must, because they certainly have something to lose: If they are embarrassed here, they will have a hard time pulling themselves together for the bronze match, especially if it’s against France, who shellacked them 4-0 in the 2011 Women’s World Cup.

It’s 90 minutes. Keep it close and hold well enough, and maybe you can eke it to extra time and penalties, and from there it’s a lottery where the winners get a guaranteed medal and a trip to Wembley.

Give it a shot.