Earlier today, FIFA posted the draw procedure for the soccer tournaments at the 2012 Olympics. On the women’s side, there are no real surprises, as the draw procedure echoes the structure of the 2008 draw procedures.
The four pots:
Pot 1: Great Britain (E1), France, Sweden
Pot 2: Cameroon, South Africa, Colombia
Pot 3: Japan (F1), Korea DPR, New Zealand
Pot 4: USA (G1), Canada, Brazil
The one notable change from 2008 is that the non-host seeds have been pre-assigned the #1 position in their groups, which means that the schedule for those teams is now known. Besides Great Britain, who were already seeded into Group E, slot #1; Japan was seeded into Group F, slot #1; while the USA was seeded into Group G, slot #1.
The potential groups can be summarized as the following:
- GROUP E: Great Britain; (North Korea or New Zealand); (Brazil* or Canada); (Cameroon, South Africa, or Colombia*)
- GROUP F: Japan; (France or Sweden); (Brazil* or Canada); (Cameroon, South Africa, or Colombia*)
- GROUP G: United States; (France or Sweden); (North Korea or New Zealand); (Cameroon, South Africa, or Colombia)
*Brazil and Colombia, since they are both from the same continent/confederation, cannot be in the same group.
For an in-depth look at all the possible ways the draw could work out, see this earlier post (skip to the section titled “The Possible Scenarios…”).
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USWNT Match Schedule: FIFA had already posted a preliminary schedule for the Olympic football tournaments (PDF). As the USWNT has been slotted as “G1,” their schedule is as follows:
25 July (Wednesday), 12:00 PM EDT (1700 Local), G1 vs G2
28 July (Saturday), 12:00 PM EDT (1700 Local), G1 vs G3
31 July (Tuesday), 12:15 PM EDT (1715 Local), G1 vs G4
The USWNT’s first two group matches will be played at Hampden Park, in Glasgow, Scotland, which is where all Group G teams will be based for the first two matches. The team’s third match will be contested at Manchester United’s home pitch, Old Trafford, in Manchester, England.
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The actual draw is scheduled for 11:00 am BST (6:00 am EDT) at Wembley Stadium, and will be shown live on BBC2 in Great Britain and is supposed to be streamed live on BBC Sport’s website.
Women's Soccer Express 