Your guide to Canada vs. Germany Olympic soccer showdown (2024)

MARSEILLE, France — The mercurial Canadian women’s soccer team faces Germany in a do-or-die quarterfinal game Saturday (1 p.m. ET) at the 67,394-seat Orange Velodrome in Marseille. It’s the undefeated world No. 8 ranked and heavily sanctioned Canada’s third straight must-win contest in France. The No. 4 Germans won impressively over Australia and Zambia, but got smashed by the United States in the group stage. Get this – defending champ Canada is riding a 10-game Olympic winning streak. Their last defeat? A 2-0 loss to Germany in the semifinal at the Rio 2016 Games.

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HOW THEY GOT HERE
Canada: Beat New Zealand 2-1; Beat France 2-1; Beat Colombia 1-0.

Germany: Beat Australia 3-0; Lost to United States 4-1; Beat Zambia 4-1.

BACK-TO-BACK

You’ll be watching the last two Olympic gold medalists. Canada won it in Tokyo three years ago while scoring a grand total of two goals in three knockout stage matches – both on penalty kicks by current captain Jessie Fleming. Germany didn’t qualify for the 2020 Games but beat poor Sweden (who finished second in consecutive Olympics) 2-1 in the 2016 Rio final. The Germans also have three straight bronze medals (2000, ‘04, ‘08) while Canada is rocking a three-Games medal streak (one gold, two bronze). Germany also has two women’s World Cup titles to its name (2003, ‘07).

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Canada has lost seven of the past nine meetings, although a lot of those were international friendlies. The Canadians are 0-2 all-time against Germany in the women’s World Cup, though legendary Christine Sinclair famously scored against them in a 2-1 loss in 2011 after having her nose broken by a German foe. Canada was the only team to beat Germany on a Melissa Tancredi brace in the group stage in Rio, but the Germans got their revenge in the semifinal on their way to gold

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THE DIFFERENCE

It will be Canada’s big and intimidating back line against Germany’s multi-faceted attack.The Germans have eight goals in three games and six different scorers. Bayern Munich’s Lea Schuller is the only multi-goal getter with three. But Germany is wading through inconsistent form and knows it will be facing a motivated team inspired by centre-back Vanessa Gilles’ timely scoring. Canada already beat No. 2 ranked France so it has confidence it can play with anyone. The Canadians have fallen behind early twice, but also haven’t given up a second-half goal yet. That’s a nice quality to have when the games get tight late.

OLYMPIC SOCCER QUARTERFINALS

(Women’s tournament)

Saturday

United States (3-0) vs. Japan (2-1), 9 a.m. (ET) in Paris

Americans back in business after World Cup hiccup last year.

Spain (3-0) vs. Colombia (1-2), 11 a.m. (ET) in Lyon

Spaniards have only allowed one goal – and that was 13 minutes into the opener against Japan.

Canada (3-0) vs. Germany (2-1), 1 p.m. (ET) in Marseille

Last two gold medalists battle.

Spain (3-0) vs. France (2-1), 3 p.m. (ET) in Nantes

You’ve got world No. 1 vs. the hosts.

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