Defending champion Canada avoided World Cup winner Spain and some familiar foes in Australia and Brazil at Wednesday’s women’s soccer draw for the Paris Olympics.
Instead, the ninth-ranked Canadians were drawn in Group A alongside No. 3 France, No. 23 Colombia and No. 28 New Zealand.
“I’m excited for the group,” said Canadian coach Bev Priestman. “I didn’t want to draw some familiar opponents. I always think it’s exciting when you play some new opponents.
“It could have been a World Cup champion and some other routes that we could have gone down,” she added. “So overall pleased, excited but taking nothing for granted.”
The Canadians have only played Colombia twice, winning games in 2011 and 2012. Led by Real Madrid forward Linda Caicedo, the South Americans made it to the quarter-finals of last year’s World Cup, eventually losing 1-0 to runner-up England.
“They’re a difficult team, quite unorthodox ,” said Priestman.
The South Americans reached the quarter-finals of the recent CONCACAF W Gold Cup, losing 1-0 to the U.S. who then dispatched Canada in a semi-final penalty shootout.
Canada is 10-1-4 all-time against New Zealand, with the lone loss coming the first time they met in 1987. Canada played New Zealand to a scoreless draw in the 2015 World Cup and won 2-0 when they met at the 2019 World Cup
Canada’s all-time record against France is 5-8-3 with the French having won five of the past six meetings, including a 2-1 victory last time out in Le Mans, France, last April.
But Canada defeated France 1-0 in the 2012 Olympic bronze-medal game and 1-0 in the 2016 quarter-finals.
And the Canadians have experience in taking on host countries, defeating Britain in 2012, Brazil in 2016 (the bronze-medal game) and tying Japan in 2021.
“That’s always a unique and exciting experience,” said Priestman.
It was less pleasant at last summer’s World Cup when the Canadians exited the tournament after finishing the group stage with a humbling 4-0 loss to co-host Australia.
The 12-team Olympic women’s tournament runs July 25 through Aug. 10. Canada has made the Olympic podium the past three times, winning gold in Tokyo under Priestman and bronze in Rio and London under John Herdman.
Group B features the fourth-ranked U.S., No. 5 Germany, No. 12 Australia and either No. 58 Morocco or No. 65 Zambia. Group C is No. 1 Spain, No. 7 Japan, No. 10 Brazil and either No. 36 Nigeria or No. 51 South Africa.
The African teams will be determined in the final round of qualifying April 1-9.
“What we know more than we ever knew is that the women’s game, no matter where people are ranked, there’s not an easy game,” said Priestman.
France will play Colombia in the opening women’s match July 25 in Lyon. That same day, Canada will face New Zealand in Saint-Étienne.
The Canadians will then play France on July 28 in Saint-Étienne and Colombia on July 31 in Nice.
The Group A winner will face one of the third-place teams in the quarter-finals while the runner-up will tackle the second-place team in Group B. Germany could be a quarter-final opponent for Canada with Spain and the U.S. potential semi-final matchups.
The top two teams in each of the three groups, plus the two best third-place finishers, move on to the quarter-finals.
Canada knew it would avoid the U.S., which joined France and Spain in Pot 1, in the group stage since FIFA looks to separate teams from the same confederation
Wednesday’s draw was held in suburban Saint-Denis with former Canadian goalkeeper Stephanie Labbé, one of the heroes at the Tokyo Games, and former Ivory Coast star Didier Drogba serving as draw assistants on the women’s side.
The 16-team men’s draw sees France, the U.S., the Asia-Africa playoff winner and New Zealand in Group A. Argentina, Morocco, Asian qualifier No. 3 and Ukraine are in Group B while Asian qualifier No. 2, Spain, Egypt and the Dominican Republic make up Group C. Group D is Asia qualifier No. 1, Paraguay, Mali and Israel.
The Asia entries will be determined at the Asia Cup in May. The fourth-placed Asian team will face Guinea in the Asian-African playoff.
The opening men’s match with be France versus the U.S. The Canadian men have not qualified for the Olympic soccer tournament since 1984.
Men’s teams at the Olympics are restricted to under-23 players with a maximum of three over-age players allowed. There is no age restrictions for women’s teams.
At the Tokyo Olympics, the Canadian women were drawn with host Japan (then ranked 10th in the world), No. 37 Chile and Britain, which is not ranked by FIFA, in Group E.
Canada finished second in the group at 1-0-2 before beating Brazil (4-3 in a penalty shootout) in the quarter-finals, the U.S. (1-0) in the semi-finals and Sweden (3-2 in a penalty shootout) in the gold-medal game.