Need To Know: Soccer
Fast Facts
Dates: July 25-Aug. 11
Venues: Wembley Stadium, Old Trafford, St. James’ Park, Millenium Stadium, Hampden Park, City of Coventry Stadium
Medal Events: 2
Athletes: 504 (16 men’s teams, 12 women’s teams)
The Basics
Men’ soccer (in London they call it football) has been a part of every Olympics since 1900, except for the 1932 Los Angeles Games. Women’s soccer debuted in 1996 in Atlanta.
The format you’ll recognize from the World Cup. Teams are divided into groups of four (the men’s tournament has four groups, the women’s three), and each team plays the other teams in its group. The top eight move on to the single-elimination knockout rounds. For the men, that means the top two teams in each group. For the women, it’s the top two in each group, along with the two best third-place teams. The semifinal winners play for gold, and the losers play for bronze.
The women’s tournament in London will feature pretty much all the best players from each competing country. The men’s tournament… not so much. Under the agreement between FIFA (soccer’s international governing body) and the IOC, the Olympics are restricted to players under the age of 23, with the exception of three over-23 players allowed per team. The idea is to preserve the World Cup's place as the premier international soccer tournament.
In fact, you can't even call the Olympics the top international tourney of this year. That honour belongs to the wildly popular European Championship, which Spain won for the second time in a row by beating Italy in the final on July 1.
Because of the lack of prestige, you won't see the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) and Kaka (Brazil) in London, and Lionel Messi’s Argentina didn’t qualify. David Beckham wanted to play for Great Britain, but was passed over.
Canadian Athletes To Watch
The Canadian men’s team failed to qualify, so all hopes rest on the women, who are ranked seventh in the world. The squad went into last summer’s World Cup in Germany with high hopes, but crashed and burned with losses in all three round-robin matches. That result earned coach Carolina Morace the boot, and Englishman John Herdman stepped in to lead the team to a runner-up finish at their continental Olympic qualifying tournament in Vancouver, which earned Canada an Olympic berth.
In London, Canada will continue to lean heavily on fabulous forward Christine Sinclair. Fiery on the pitch and soft-spoken off it, the Burnaby B.C. native came up big under the spotlight of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifier, potting a tournament-best nine goals in five matches. Sinclair is Canada’s all-time leader in caps (184) and goals (137).
International Athletes To Watch
The United States has won three of the four Olympic women’s soccer gold medals, and the top-ranked Americans will be favoured for a fourth title in London with powerful forward Abby Wambach leading the way. Only Mia Hamm has scored more international goals for the U.S. than Wambach, whose four tallies at the 2011 Women’s World Cup included a dramatic extra-time header that gave her team the lead in the final. But Japan’s Homare Sawa replied with her tournament-leading fifth goal minutes later to send the game to a penalty shootout, where the Japanese pulled off the upset and secured Sawa MVP honours.
With David Beckham's bid to join the British team rejected, the two most famous men's players competing in London are Ryan Giggs and Neymar, who are at opposite ends of their careers. Manchester United veteran Giggs, 38, will suit up for Great Britain, while rising star Neymar, 20, plays for Brazil.
The Brazilians, have an advantage in that their national team features several under-23 players who are likely to compete in London. Alexandre Pato, Leandro Damiao, Oscar, Paulo Henrique Ganso and Neymar may help deliver Brazil (which has won the World Cup five times) its first Olympic title.
Canada’s Medal Outlook
The women’s team played well under first-year coach John Herdman at the CONCACAF Olympic qualifier, but that was in front of a friendly crowd in Vancouver, and not exactly against the deepest field. The last time Canada faced top-shelf competition, it got outscored 7-1 en route to a last-place finish in a tough group at the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany. London won’t be much easier: Canada’s first game is against reigning World Cup champion Japan (the third-ranked team in the world), and it also has to face fourth-ranked Sweden in the group stage. A podium finish — something Canada has never achieved in Olympic soccer — would be surprising.