1st Defeat for Germany Casts Huge Doubts over Their Medal Prospects

Going into the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Canada had never beaten the German women’s football team in 12 separate attempts. For John Herdman and his squad, the 13th attempt proved to be lucky on Tuesday night.

Inspired by two goals from captain Melissa Tancredi, Canada came back from 1-0 down to stun the European side, confirm their place as group winners and cast a huge shadow over Germany’s chances of medalling this summer.

“It’s a great day. We have had a couple of great days here,” beamed Herdman to Canada Soccer after the final whistle. He continued: 

The first game against Australia was one of my proudest moments as a coach to see the resilience. Today just topped it, to see the inspirational performance from our captain [Tancredi] here.

As a coach, it was just proud to watch the team leading the team. Yes, great moments in football and memories that I will cherish, but we have another game coming, so we can’t talk like we have won this thing because we have another game coming.

Silvia Neid’s team took the lead in the 13th minute, when Melanie Behringer converted from the penalty spot after Mandy Islacker was brought down in the box by Allysha Chapman. Stephanie Labbe was beaten, and the North Americans must have thought they would have to settle for second place.

However, despite falling behind in terms of possession and creating fewer chances than their opponents, Canada was able to even the score when Tancredi superbly equalised in the 26th minute.

Midfielder Desiree Scott worked hard to win the ball back from Lena Gossling deep in the Germany half, Tancredi picked up possession, feinted past Josephine Henning and drilled a low shot past the defender and beyond Almuth Schult.

Tabea Kemme, Isabel Kerschowski and Behringer all had chances to score as Germany upped the pressure, but Labbe wasn’t troubled in the Canada net.

After the break, Anja Mittag had a great chance to fire the Germans in front, but she couldn’t convert Islacker’s cross. They would be made to rue that chance.

Tancredi picked up her second at the hour mark, wrestling free of the German defenders to powerfully head in Rebecca Quinn’s free-kick.

“I am just proud of this team,” goalscorer Tancredi told Canada Soccer after the game. “To be able to put two goals past a tier-one opponent and really state our spot in this tournament is really huge for us.”

Alexandra Popp had a chance late on, …

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