Rio Olympics : Womens Qualifiers

Rio Olympics is 5 months away from kick off and the Women's national teams are all geared up to qualify from their respective continental qualifiers rounds. USA, France and Germany have qualified among other teams. In the last round from European qualifiers we take a look at Netherlands and Sweden's fixture and also the Asian qualifiers.

A 1 – 1 draw against Netherlands was sufficient for Sweden to grab the last ticket to Rio. Netherland struck early in the game with Vivianne Miedema scoring for the Hosts in just the 5^th minute. However Olivia Schough’s 45^th minute strike was enough to ensure that the side ranked 8^th by FIFA go through. Sweden scored just scored 3 goals – the least in the tournament and conceded just one goal – the best defensive record on their way to qualifying. All of Sweden’s goals came in different matches and their simplistic approach is commendable and is the shining example of a balanced effort and teamwork.

In Other News, The Asian Qualifiers were sealed before the final round as Australia and China both secured their places comfortably. Australian and China along with Japan, North Korea and South Korea entered the final round directly as per the rule since they were the ranked highest teams. The 2 qualifying sides finished on top of the final round without any losses. Australia won 4 matches and drew 1 whereas China drew 1 more game than them. Both side conceded just 3 goals but Australia scored 17, ten more than China.

These 3 sides will be joining Colombia, France, Germany, South Africa, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Canada, United States and Hosts Brazil in the tournament which will be held from the 3^rd till 19^th of August 2016. This tournament would mark the debut of the Goal-Line Technology and the Hawk-Eye system for Football in Olympics – a great leap forward for technology in football.