The Canadian women’s soccer team will be looking to clinch a berth in the gold medal game at the Rio Olympics on Tuesday when they take on Germany as +275 underdogs (wager $100 to win $275) for the matchup at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The Canadians punched their ticket to Tuesday’s semifinal contest with a 1-0 win over France last Friday to maintain a perfect record at the tournament heading into their matchup against favoured Germany at Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Canada went unbeaten during the group stage, clinching top spot in Group F with their first head-to-head victory over Germany. The Canadians edged the defending European champions 2-1 while pegged as +340 underdogs in the game.
The team followed up that result with a quarterfinal victory over France as +310 underdogs, once again eliminating Les Bleus in the knockout stage of the Olympic tournament after handing them a 1-0 loss in the bronze medal game at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Tuesday’s match marks Germany’s fourth straight appearance in the semifinal of the Olympic tournament. However, unlike the European Championship, which they have dominated with eight titles in their past nine appearances, the Germans have yet to win Olympic gold, falling in all three of their previous Olympic semifinal clashes.
Despite their record of futility at the Summer Games, and their recent group stage loss to Canada, Germany is listed as a -105 favourite on the Rio Olympics odds for Tuesday.
Germany needed a late goal to get past China 1-0 in the quarterfinals, but dominated otherwise, firing 26 shots at the Chinese goal. Die Nationalelf were equally dominant against Canada, outshooting them by a 22-5 margin on 73% possession, but they were unable to solve goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe.
In Tuesday’s other women’s soccer semifinal, Brazil takes on Sweden as -180 betting favourites at the sportsbooks. The host nation for this year’s games roared out of the gate with a pair of convincing group stage wins including a 5-1 thrashing of Sweden, which trails as a +450 underdog for Tuesday.
But Brazil has been unable to claim victory in 90 minutes in either of their two outings since, playing South Africa to a 0-0 draw in their final group stage contest before outlasting Australia in a lengthy penalty shootout after neither team was able to find the net in 120 minutes.
Sweden advances to the Olympic semifinal for the first time after knocking off the tournament favourite United States on penalties in the quarterfinals. The Swedes were outshot 26-5 by the United States, but survived on the strength of a disciplined defensive game that frustrated the Americans, and which they will likely employ against Brazil.