Brazil and Canada will meet in the bronze medal match of the Olympic women’s soccer tournament.
Brazil has made the home fans proud with its performance throughout the tournament and will hope to cap it off with a bronze medal. The team has not lost a match in regulation at the 2016 Olympics, having lost in penalties to Sweden in the semifinals.
As many expected, Marta, the five-time FIFA Player of the Year, has led the Brazilians to the medal rounds. She has two goals so far and has been a consistent threat in attack, drawing the eyes of multiple defenders every time she touches the ball.
Despite Marta’s play, Brazil’s offense has been slowed by the absence of forward Cristiane. In the group stage of the Rio Games, Cristiane made history becoming the all-time leading goal scorer at the Olympics as she scored her 14th career goal.
However, she has been hobbled by a hamstring injury that forced her to miss the majority of Brazil’s semifinal match against Sweden. She came on in extra time of the match, but did not look her normal self.
Brazil has not scored a goal in its last three matches, playing to scoreless draws in each game.
Canada has been one of the strongest teams at the 2016 Olympics as it went on a five-match winning streak to get to the semifinals.
The team was hoping to avenge its epic 2012 Olympic semifinal loss to the U.S., but fell to Germany 2-0 in the 2016 semis.
Canada has been paced by former U.S. youth product Janine Beckie with three goals at the 2016 Games. She has formed a formidable attack with captain Christine Sinclair.
The semifinals were the first match that Canada was held without a goal.
Both Brazil and Canada have landed on the Olympic podium in recent memory. Brazil won silver at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics while Canada took home bronze at the 2012 Games.
The teams will meet on Friday, Aug. 19th at 12:00 p.m. ET at the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo. The match will be streamed live on NBCOlympics.com.