The long awaited Olympics are almost upon us and the Team GB Women will be representing us in the football for just the 2nd time. The tournament will be contested between 12 teams and they are definitely a lot of string teams in these 12 so it is going to be a very interesting competition which could go to any nation really. There are no age limits for the players representing the nations in the competition so it is safe to say a lot of managers could have tough decisions on their hands as teams are limited to an 18 player squad which is certainly smaller than your typical World Cup squad, meaning some countries might end up leaving out some big names especially for the likes of Team GB who have to narrow England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland players down to just 18 from the 4 nations which is definitely going to be a tough choice with how many great players have developed over the past few years. I think we are definitely going to see quite a few big names also playing in their final Olympics too especially those in the USWNT as they are all possibly coming up to the end of their playing days meaning they might not still be playing when the next Olympics rolls around to them being every 4 years.
It is safe to say the group draw has provided us with some great games even just in the group stages where there could easily be a couple of upsets in the very early stages of the competition. So here is how the groups are looking, I won't go into the groups too much though as a bit near the start date I will be doing a predictions post on how I think the tournament is going to go.
Group E
E1 - Japan
E2- Canada
E3 - Great Britain
E4 - Chile
Great Britain have definitely been drawn into a tough group for the competition however, I think with the right players selected they can really push to get out of the group. Japan and Canada are definitely strong teams but Chile can easily test the other three teams limits so we are in for a treat with this group.
Group F
F1 - China
F2 - Brazil
F3 - Zambia
F4 - Netherlands
Another great group is group F featuring World Cup runners up The Netherlands, they have gone strength to strength year after year so they could very well push Brazil to come out on top of this group. There is a chance for a few surprises in this group though so I can't wait.
Group G
G1 - Sweden
G2 - USA
G3 - Australia
G4 - New Zealand
With Sweden vs USA as the first game in this group we are onto a winner already. I think this could be a very closely contested group and possibly one to bring in the most views. There are some big names on show in this group too which is likely to draw in the audiences and provide us with some good quality football and hopefully some very closely contested games.
So that is how the groups are looking and I can't wait for the tournament to finally get underway at long last as I don't know about you but I feel like I have been waiting forever for this to begin. There will be plenty more content coming very soon for the Olympics so keep checking back for future posts.
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