Janine Beckie scored two goals, and Christine Sinclair also found the back of the net as the Canadian women’s soccer team defeated Zimbabwe 3-1 on Saturday at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Canada tops Group F with six points. Germany (three points) is in second, ahead of Australia and Zimbabwe, both winless. The Canadians officially clinched a spot in the next round when Germany and Australia played to a 2-2 draw on Saturday evening.
The top two teams in each of the three round-robin groups, as well as the top two third-place teams overall, qualify for the quarterfinals.
The Reds earned a 2-0 win over Australia in its first match of the tournament. Zimbabwe lost 6-1 to Germany in its opening game.
Canada is no. 10 in the current FIFA world rankings. Zimbabwe is 93rd.
Canadian coach John Herdman on Saturday made four changes to his starting lineup, including giving backup goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo the nod ahead of Stephanie Labbe.
Beckie opened the scoring in the seventh minute off a setup from Sinclair. Sinclair bagged her 10th career goal at the Olympics when she converted from the penalty spot in the 19th minute. Beckie added a second goal in the 34th minute off a great cross by Josee Belanger.
Beckie leads Canada in scoring at this tournament with three goals in two games.
Zimbabwe notched a goal in the 86th minute through Mavis Chirandu off of a terrible miscue by Canada’s defence and D’Angelo.
Canada faces Germany next Tuesday in its final group stage match. Canadian defender Kadeisha Buchanan is suspended for that game due to yellow card accumulation.
Sportsnet’s Soccer Central podcast (featuring Thomas Dobby, Brendan Dunlop, John Molinaro and James Sharman) takes an in-depth look at the beautiful game and offers timely and thoughtful analysis on the sport’s biggest issues.