Canadian women's soccer team wins Olympic opener over Australia

By Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press 

The Rio Olympics don't officially open until Friday. But the Canadian women's soccer team helped kick off competition Wednesday with a pulsating 2-0 win over Australia despite being a player down for 70-plus minutes.

Captain Christine Sinclair set the stage for Olympic history, intercepting a pass to set up Janine Beckie's goal just 21 seconds into the game — a tap-in that enters the Games record book as the fastest in soccer competition.

"It was a dream start," said captain Sinclair. "I don't think we could have drawn it up better for us. I am super proud of our team - the fight we showed and the spirit. It was a huge win for us."

Sinclair then added icing to the cake in the 80th minute, taking a beautiful long-range pass from Jessie Fleming before rounding onrushing goalkeeper Lydia Williams and scoring from distance past a defender for her 163rd international goal — and ninth at the Olympics.

Sinclair celebrated with verve, clenching her fists in excitement and perhaps a little relief in putting the game away.

In-between the goals, Canadian defender Shelina Zadorsky was sent off in the 19th minute and will be suspended for the Zimbabwe game as a result, while Beckie missed a 73rd-minute penalty. The fifth-ranked Matildas, meanwhile, woke up after Beckie's early goal and bossed the first half. But they couldn't take advantage and a composed Canada defended ably in the second half, counter-attacking as Australia pressed for the tying goal.

While it is early days at the Olympic tournament — 10th-ranked Canada still has to play No. 93 Zimbabwe and No. 2 Germany in pool play — the result left coach John Herdman's team in good position to advance to the quarter-finals.

The gritty performance elicited praise from Herdman. 

"You [can] have all the talent in the world but it will always come back to grit.  And they [the team] gritted that out today. It was fantastic. They were disciplined defensively, outstanding."

A game filled with twists and turns

Canada won bronze four years ago in London and the ambitious goal here is back-to-back podiums.

Herdman was beaming with pride in his team, which combines a veteran core with a promising cadre of youth, after the roller-coaster win.

"It was great to watch," he said. "As a coach, you're going grey by the second but at the same time it's the stuff that you sort of dream of in terms of your team really getting tested this early in a tournament ... It was a great day for us."

Australia coach Alen Stajcic lamented his team's lacklustre second-half performance.

"We're obviously very disappointed," he said. "The match was there for the taking and we weren't good enough to take it."

Australia outshot Canada 22-8 (12-4 in shots on target) and had 59 per cent of the possession.

It was a game filled with twists and turns and started with a bang.

Chances on both sides

Canada came out pressing and it paid off immediately. Sinclair intercepted Laura Alleway's pass to defensive partner Alanna Kennedy in front of the penalty box. And when Alleway rushed out at the Canadian captain to repair the damage, Sinclair calmly rolled a perfect pass through her legs to Beckie who tapped the ball past a diving Williams.

Mexico's Oribe Peralta had the previous quickest goal when he scored within 30 seconds in the 2012 men's final against Brazil.

But the early goal proved to be a tonic for the Matildas, who came at Canada in waves for the rest of the first half. Canada's dream start soon turned into a half that probably could not end quickly enough for Herdman.

Australia began to come back and Samantha Kerr had a couple of good chances. Then Zadorsky was red-carded in the 19th minute for pulling down Michelle Heyman as the Aussie was about to go in alone on goal. Zadorsky grabbed her shoulder and Heyman, feeling the contact, went down.

French referee Stephanie Frappart pulled out her red without hesitation. Elise Kellond-Knight hit the ensuing free kick from just outside the box off the goalpost.

Wednesday's game was played at the Corinthians Arena, home to the Corinthians football club in the sprawling metropolis of Sao Paulo — Brazil's largest city at 20 million-plus.

Canada plays Zimbabwe at the same venue Saturday and could be back later on. The pristine white stadium, built for the 2014 men's World Cup, will host the winner of Canada's group F in the quarter-finals as well as the bronze medal match.​

Sweden down South Africa

Sweden's women beat South Africa 1-0 in a drab group-stage game Wednesday in front of a sparse crowd of only a couple of thousand spectators in Rio de Janeiro. It was settled by veteran defender Nilla Fischer opening her third Olympics by scoring in the 75th minute.

Germany rout Zimbabwe 

Melanie Behringer scored a pair of goals as three-time bronze medalist Germany routed newcomer Zimbabwe 6-1 in the women's Olympic soccer tournament at the Rio Games.

The two-time world champions opened a two-goal lead with Sara Dabritz in the 22nd and Alexandra Popp in the 36th before Kudakwashe Basopo scored for Zimbabwe in the 50th.

The Germans continued to dominate in the second half at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo, with goals from Behringer in the 53rd and 78th minutes. Melanie Leupolz added another in the 83rd before the final score came with an own goal by Eunice Chibanda in the 90th.

U.S., France Dominate 

Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan scored a goal in each half as the U.S. women's soccer team defeated New Zealand 2-0 in its debut at the Rio games on Wednesday, getting off to a solid start in its attempt to win a fourth straight Olympic gold medal.

Lloyd put the Americans ahead with a header in the ninth minute and Morgan added to the lead with a low shot from inside the area less than a minute into the second half at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte.

The U.S. dominated from the start to earn the convincing victory and remain unbeaten in 2016.

The Americans are trying to become the first team to win the Olympics after succeeding at the World Cup. 

In the final game of the day in Belo Horizonte, France cruised past Colombia 4-0 to take the group lead over the Americans.

With files from CBC Sports