Canadian women’s football players have won an Olympic gold medal for the first time. In a thrilling final, the team around star striker Christine Sinclair defeated Sweden 3–2 on penalties and celebrated the biggest success in Canadian football history after two bronze medals. The score was 1:1 after 120 and 90 minutes.

The favored Swedes had to be content with silver, as they had done in the final defeat against Germany five years earlier – Julia Grosso converted the decisive penalty. In the regular season, Sina Blackstenius (34th) had put the ex-European champions in the lead, with Jesse Fleming (67th), penalty kick equalizing.

The world champions of the United States took the bronze with a 4:3 (3:1) against Australia after a surprise semi-final knockout against Canada. The German did not qualify for the selection tournament after winning the gold medal in Rio following an exit from the 2019 World Cup quarter-final against Sweden.

Olympia 2021: Sweden can’t keep up with the times

At the International Stadium, the “Damlandslaget” around Hannah Glass and Sofia Jacobsen from German champions Bayern Munich found their way into the game. Sweden converted confidence into a daring attacking game with five victories in five tournament games. Preliminary work by director Kosovar Aslani was followed closely by Stryker Blackstanius.

In the second half, the Canadians developed more pressure around world record goal scorer Christine Sinclair (187 hits). After Sinclair was fouled by former Munich resident Amanda Ilstadt, Fleming confidently converted the penalty. At higher temperatures, breakage became noticeable before falling from the judgment point.

Due to concerns about extreme heat, the final was moved from the afternoon to the evening hours and due to conflicts with the athletics in Tokyo to Yokohama. Both the teams had asked for this step, the green signal had come a day before.

(SID)