The opening ceremony for the 2016 Rio Olympics doesn’t happen until Friday night, but the soccer tournaments get underway ahead of time. Two days before tens of thousands of fans and athletes pack into the Maracana, every team will play their opening game in the women’s soccer tournament. Two lucky teams will make their way to the Maracana again on August 19 to play in the gold medal game.
Olympic soccer 2016: Bracket, schedule and scores for women’s competition
Can the USWNT win the gold medal once again? They’re the big favorites at Rio 2016.
As defending gold medalists and World Cup winners, the United States is favored to win the tournament. They haven’t lost a competitive or friendly match in 2016, and have only drawn once, against 2011 World Cup winners and 2012 Olympics silver medalists Japan. The USWNT kicks off their tournament against New Zealand.
Germany and France are considered to be the two strongest contenders to end the USWNT’s run at the top, while this might be the last chance for 30-year-old Brazilian star Marta to guide her team to a major tournament win while she’s still at the top of her game.
The 12-team field is a much stronger and more concentrated one than the one that fans saw at the World Cup last year, but there are some big surprise entrants. Zimbabwe and South Africa stunningly outlasted the previous major tournament qualifiers in Africa, beating out teams with international stars despite both teams having no players who play club soccer outside of their home country.
Bracket
Schedule (all times ET)
TV listings for all games can be found at Live Soccer TV. All games can be streamed online in the United States at NBC Sports Live Extra.
Wednesday, August 3
Sweden 1-0 South Africa
Canada 2-0 Australia
Brazil 3-0 China
Zimbabwe 1-6 Germany
United States 2-0 New Zealand -- Recap
France 4-0 Colombia
Saturday, August 6
Canada 3-1 Zimbabwe
United States 1-0 France -- Recap
Germany 2-2 Australia
South Africa 0-2 China
Colombia 0-1 New Zealand
Brazil 5-1 Sweden
Tuesday, August 9
Australia 6-1 Zimbabwe -- Australia advances in third place
Germany 1-2 Canada -- Canada advances in first place, Germany advances in second place
Colombia 2-2 United States -- Recap; United States advances in first place
New Zealand 0-3 France -- France advances in second place
China 0-0 Sweden -- China advances in second place, Sweden advances in third place
South Africa 0-0 Brazil -- Brazil advances in first place
Friday, August 12
United States 1-1 (3-4 PKs) Sweden -- Recap
Germany 1-0 China -- Recap
Canada 1-0 France -- Recap
Brazil 0-0 (7-6 PKs) Australia -- Recap
Tuesday, August 16
Friday, August 19
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