Canada defeats Zimbabwe to stay perfect at Rio 2016 Olympics in women's soccer

Aug 6 2016, 7:17 pm

So far, so good for the Canadian women’s soccer team.

After defeating Australia 2-0 on Wednesday, the Canadian women followed up with a 3-1 win against Zimbabwe today.

It started quick once again for Canada, as Janine Beckie took a pass from Christine Sinclair and buried her own rebound to give Canada the lead under seven minutes in.

Sinclair added to Canada’s lead with a goal of her own, converting a penalty kick drawn by Diana Matheson in the 18th minute.

After Beckie missed a penalty kick in the game in Australia, Sinclair rightfully got the nod this time and did what she does best.

Although the win over Zimbabwe was never in much doubt, Canada couldn’t afford to take their foot off the pedal because the tiebreaker for the group stage is goal differential.

Beckie struck again before the half was over for her second goal of the contest and third of the tournament. That gave Canada a 3-0 lead heading into halftime.

After a fairly quiet 2nd half, Canada appeared to take a 4-0 lead late in the game, but the goal by Sinclair was called back due to an apparent hand-ball.

Moments later, Zimbabwe got on the board.

With the 3-1 win, Canada moves to 2-0-0 at the tournament with a +4 goal differential. With just one game left in group play, Canada is basically a lock to advance to the quarterfinals.

Canada is next in action on Tuesday when they take on their toughest opponent yet; Germany.

The Germans defeated Zimbabwe 6-1 yesterday, and will take on Australia later today. If they win, Canada must defeat Germany to win the group.

Kick off is at noon PT (3 pm ET).