France vs. Japan Women's Olympic Soccer: Where and When to Watch Semifinal

With a finals berth for the women’s Olympic soccer event on the line, the battle between Japan and France will be one of the fiercest of the entire tournament.

No team wants to be competing for bronze; they want the gold.

The Japanese team is red hot after winning the 2011 World Cup, but Team France has the defense and timely scoring to make this game an all-out war.

If you love soccer action of any kind, you don’t want to miss this wild semifinal!

Where: Wembley Stadium, London

When: Monday, August 6 at 12:00 p.m. ET

Watch: NBCSN

Live Stream: NBC Olympic Stream

Players To Watch

France: Gaetane Thiney

With 11 goals in 21 international appearances in 2011-2012 with Team France, the key for the French has to be the best pure scorer on the team, Gaetane Thiney, getting hot and fast.

With just one goal coming against the United States earlier in the Olympics, the sheer lack of production from Thiney has to be the biggest story coming from the French side.

That can be all erased with a huge performance in the semifinals.

Japan: Miho Fukumoto

Hands down, the biggest star so far in the Olympics for the Japanese women has been netminder Miho Fukumoto.

In four games thus far, Japan’s goalie has only let in one goal.

Fukumoto talked to the AP (via the Washington Post) about how there has been only one goal for the team and how much it means to the Japanese players:

"

It is important for us to win the Olympics, as it is important for Japanese women’s football and the future. After winning the World Cup, it became popular and more people started to support women’s football. They expect us to win here, that is why it is important to win this time again.

"

If Fukumoto can step up big one more time, she will seal her country’s fate as gold-medal contenders. But as great as she is, the Japanese need some offensive players to step up and make their star goalie’s life easier.

Prediction: Japan 3, France 1

With the better all-around team and the momentum coming into this tournament, Japan has the offensive strength to capitalize on any mistakes the French make.

In addition, the Japanese defense can stop any of France’s attacks because of the sheer lack of elite scoring ability in the French ranks.

If Japan gets the same kind of consistent play out of netminder Miho Fukumoto that they have been since the Olympics began, there is little question that they will be advancing to the finals.

Check back for more on the 2012 Summer Olympics as it comes, and don’t miss Bleacher Report’s Olympics page to get your fill of the best athletes the world has to offer.

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