Mighty Warriors lose to Canada

Sport
Canada (3) 3 Zimbabwe (0) 1 Sao Paulo — Zimbabwe suffered their second consecutive defeat at the Olympic Games after succumbing to a 3-1 defeat to Canada at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo last night.

Canada (3) 3 Zimbabwe (0) 1

Sao Paulo — Zimbabwe suffered their second consecutive defeat at the Olympic Games after succumbing to a 3-1 defeat to Canada at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo last night.

Zimbabwe played without defender Lynett Mutokuto, who received a one-match suspension for having committed what was considered a serious foul against Germany.

Since the infringement escaped the match officials’ attention, the incident was submitted to the Fifa Disciplinary Committee for consideration and decision.

Janine Beckie scored two goals and Christine Sinclair also found the back of the net as the Canadian women’s soccer team temporarily shot to the top of Group F with six points. Germany (three points) is in second, ahead of Australia and Zimbabwe, both winless.

Beckie collected a cross from Christine Sinclair in the seventh minute and had her initial shot saved by the Zimbabwean keeper Chido Dzingirai, but followed up on the rebound to open the scoring. Sinclair doubled the lead for Canada in the 19th minute via the penalty spot after Diane Matheson was taken down in the box by Dzingirai.

Beckie tallied her third goal of the tournament in the 35th minute. Josée Belanger put a cross into the box from the right side, and Beckie made an unmarked run on the back end. She hit her shot first time across the face of goal for the 3-0 lead.

Zimbabwe pulled one back in the 86th minute as substitute Mavis Chirandu poked a ball past goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo and recovered it on the other side to score on an open net. The whole stadium, over 30 000 people attended, chanted for Zimbabwe until the final whistle. —Online