dpa
Paris
The Australian women’s football team failed to make the knock-out stage of the Olympics for the first time since Sydney 2000 after a 2-1 defeat to the already qualified United States on Wednesday.
Meanwhile Canada were through to the quarter-finals despite a six-point deduction in the tournament due to a drone spying scandal which broke shortly before its opening match against New Zealand, which they won 2-1.
The Australians, who were fourth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, lost 3-0 to Rio 2016 gold medallists Germany in their opener and pulled off an incredible comeback from 5-2 down to defeat Zambia 6-5 in the second highest scoring women’s game in Olympic history.
The loss to the USA left the Matildas in third place with three points, however fellow third-placed Colombia and Brazil made the cut over them in virtue of a better goal difference. Tokyo 2020 gold medallists Canada, who won all three of their matches, came second in their group behind France as their nine points were reduced to three after a six-point penalty from world football governing body FIFA.
It was revealed before Canada’s opening game that they had been flying drones above their opponents’ training session, which is prohibited by FIFA rules. An appeal against the deduction was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
