Despite their perfect 3-0-0 record in the group stage of the soccer tournament at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, the Canadian women’s team is still listed as an underdog on the odds to win the gold medal at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Canada picked up a historic 2-1 victory over Germany on Tuesday that handed them top spot on the Group F table, but as they prepare for their quarter-final meeting with France on Friday they’re back at +1000 (wager $100 to win $1,000) on the odds to win the gold medal.
The Canadians arrived at the 2016 Olympics with much to prove after settling for a bronze medal at the 2012 Games in London.
Canada failed to get past the quarter-finals at last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, but with their first-ever win over Germany, which opened as -170 chalk to win Group F, the squad now takes an impressive 9-0-2 record over their past 11 contests into Friday’s matchup against France at Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo. Canada is a +355 underdog for the game.
Les Bleus dominated in a pair of lopsided wins over New Zealand and Colombia during the group stage, but fell short of first place in Group G with a 1-0 loss to the United States that ended a stretch of seven straight shutout victories.
The French enter the knockout stage with their gold medal odds at +500, while a 1-0 victory in a pre-tournament friendly improved France to 2-1-0 in their last three meetings with Canada. However, France will need to overcome a crushing 1-0 loss to Canada four years ago that handed the underdog Canadians the bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics.
The United States, meanwhile, maintains its position atop the odds as the +120 betting favourites to win gold ahead of its quarter-final matchup with Sweden on Friday afternoon.
The Americans opened the tournament as +150 favourites and have failed to disappoint, winning Group G with victories over France and New Zealand before closing out the group stage with a 2-2 draw against Colombia.
Sweden clinched a knockout stage berth on the strength of a 1-0 group stage win over South Africa, but were outclassed in a 5-1 loss to Brazil and trail on the gold medal odds at +2200.
Host nation Brazil trails only the United States with +325 gold medal odds ahead of their quarter-final clash with Australia on Friday, and has outscored opponents by an 11-2 margin over their past four matches. The Australians are at +2500 to win the tournament.
And Germany’s loss to Canada has done little to dampen their odds of winning their first Olympic gold medal, which sit at +400 ahead of their meeting with China on Friday. China, a quarter-final finisher in their last Olympic appearance in 2008, trails as the +2800 longshot on those Rio Olympics odds at the sportsbooks.