France’s attack has been as formidable as ever in these Olympics. Les Bleues thrashed Colombia and New Zealand by a combined 7-0 scoreline, and despite getting shut out by the U.S., the French still outplayed the Americans for the most part on offense and outshot them, 14-5.
Eugenie Le Sommer is having another very good tournament with two goals. Le Sommer scored the deciding goal in France’s 1-0 friendly win over Canada in 2015.
Of course, Le Sommer is far from the only attacking threat the French have. With the likes of Elodie Thomis, Marie-Laure Delie, and Camille Abily, Les Bleues won’t be short of options up front.
Canada’s offense, though, has been consistently great throughout the tournament. They scored at least two goals in each of their three group games. Christine Sinclair and Janine Beckie got the first five goals for the team. And even with those two taken out of the lineup, Melissa Tancredi stepped up to get both goals in Canada’s famous 2-1 win over Germany.
The Canadians have shown that they have the clinical strikers who can capitalize on limited opportunities. They scored four goals against Australia and Germany on just 14 total shots.
France’s defense has been excellent. Les Bleues have conceded just one goal thus far, which tied Brazil for the best defensive record in the group stage. Moreover, that one goal they did allow was via a penalty. The ability to keep hold of the ball for long stretches has been one of the keys to the French defense’s success in Rio. Canada will be happy to give up majority of possession, so the French should once again enjoy much of the ball.
Of course, Canada has been equally impressive when tasked to defend for long periods of time. Despite ceding a lot of possession and getting significantly outshot against both Australia and Germany, the Canadians still managed to prevent conceding a single goal from open play. After successfully passing those two tests, the Canadians should be well-prepared for the onslaught they are likely to face against the French.
Writer’s Prediction: Canada has been surprising people all tournament long, so why stop now? The Canadians (+321) upset the French, 2-1.
