Olympic Soccer 2016: TV Schedule, Live Stream and Wednesday Match Times
The 2016 Olympic women's football tournament will kick off on Wednesday, and the first matchday will immediately serve up several tasty encounters.
While the United States and Germany are expected to cruise to wins over New Zealand and Zimbabwe, respectively, the clash between Canada and Australia will have huge implications on the knockout stages. France won't have it easy against Colombia, and hosts Brazil will take on China.
Here's a look at the TV schedule for Wednesday's matches:
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| 12 p.m./5 p.m. | E | Sweden v South Africa | NBCSN (U.S.) |
| 2 p.m./7 p.m. | F | Canada v Australia | NBCSN (U.S.) |
| 3 p.m/8 p.m. | E | Brazil v China | NBCSN/USA Network (U.S.) |
| 5 p.m./10 p.m. | F | Zimbabwe v Germany | NBCSN/USA Network (U.S.) |
| 6 p.m./11 p.m. | G | USA v New Zealand | NBCSN (U.S.) |
| 9 p.m./2 a.m. | G | France v Colombia | NBCSN (U.S.) |
Live Stream: NBC Sports Live app
Preview
New Zealand, the 17th-ranked nation in the world at the start of the Olympics, are not expected to challenge the Stars and Stripes in their first test of this year's tournament. The Football Ferns have made it out of the group stages of the Olympics just once and didn't win a single match at last year's World Cup.
It's a young team with few players over the age of 30 and one that hasn't won a competitive match since the Algarve Cup in March. New Zealand tend not to concede a lot of goals and play the counter-attack well, but barring a minor miracle, they shouldn't challenge the U.S. all that much.
The opener provides U.S. head coach Jill Ellis with the perfect opportunity to let some of her younger players get a taste of Olympic action. The Stars and Stripes have travelled to Brazil with a relatively young side of their own, something Ellis acknowledged in an interview with USSoccer.com:
"Certainly going into the World Cup, we recognized we had more of a senior roster. Now, it's not just having your eye on the Olympics this summer, it's having your eye on what's beyond that. Getting younger players experience in this world event will help down the line. I think that's part of what you have to do in this position is always plan to continue winning world championships. It's a great infusion of new players – a slightly different style in terms of different players and pieces and putting it all together – and that's actually been good. It's refreshing, as a staff, to work with different faces and try to blend them.
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France, Germany and Brazil are the Stars and Stripes' usual rivals, and in the absence of Japan, which shockingly failed to qualify, the U.S. practically expect a gold medal.
Japan won't compete after they finished behind Australia and China in the final round of qualifying, in large part due to a heavy 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Matildas in Osaka. Australia's rise in the world of women's football has been a steep one, and while they lost their last friendly ahead of the tournament against Brazil, they still have the look of dangerous outsiders.
The Matildas will start their campaign against Canada, who took home the bronze medal four years ago and made the quarter-finals of the World Cup last year. Per John Greco of the Australian team's official website, midfielder Emily van Egmond knows she and her team-mates are in for a tricky challenge:
"Canada is a very good team. I think they are going to be quite physical, dangerous off set pieces and they have a couple of key players were going to have to look out for. It's going to be a good game, it's going to be a challenge but one that the girls are definitely going to be up for. ...
Every women's football team has come with the same mindset and the same goal, and that's to win the gold medal. We have the potential and the talent within this group to medal definitely, the most important thing for this group is to focus on the group games and Canada up first is a big task for us.
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France, Germany and Sweden are traditional European heavyweights that always have their eyes on the gold, and with Les Bleues in the same group as the Stars and Stripes, Ellis' troops will face a challenge at least once before the knockout stages.
Hosts Brazil will face the Swedes on the second matchday, but not before facing China on Wednesday.
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