Women's Olympic Football: Predicting All Four Quarterfinals

The group stage is complete, and now eight women's football teams are alive in the race for Olympic gold.

Great Britain and the United States both finished the group stage with three wins in their three matches, and both will be favored in the quarterfinals. World Cup champions Japan finished second in Group F, but that was apparently by design.

Elsewhere, Brazil and Sweden are perennial threats, while Canada, New Zealand and France round out the final eight.

Read on for my predictions for all four quarterfinal matches, and leave yours in the comments section.

Details: Friday, 2:30 p.m. ET, City of Coventry Stadium, Coventry, England

Canada thrilled fans with a two-goal comeback against Sweden in their final group match. The 2-2 draw sent Melissa Tancredi to the top of the scoring charts (four goals already) and gave Canada third place in Group F and a berth in the quarterfinals.

The run ends here.

Great Britain breezed through group play, winning all three matches, scoring five goals without conceding and beating Brazil 1-0 in the group finale.

Steph Houghton has been on fire, scoring three goals in the group stage (including the winner against Brazil).

Both she and Britain will maintain form in the quarters.

Prediction: Great Britain 2, Canada 0

Details: Friday, noon ET, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales

This is the match Japan wanted. It's not immediately clear why.

Had Japan finished first in Group F, they would have faced either France or the United States in the quarterfinals. But how realistic was it that France would edge out the U.S. in Group G after the opening match?

So now Japan will play Brazil and Marta, and simply put, this will be a very difficult task.

Japan won the World Cup last summer, but they avoided Brazil the entire tournament. Meanwhile, Homare Sawa is the reigning FIFA World Player of the Year, but Brazil's Marta is widely considered the top player in the world.

Brazil whipped Cameroon 5-0 in their opener but could only put one goal past New Zealand. After that, the showdown with Great Britain was decided by an early goal.

This one could go either way. Extra time and penalties almost seem inevitable.

Prediction: Japan 1, Brazil 1, after extra time. Japan wins on penalties, keeping the magical run going for another round.

Details: Friday, 9:30 a.m. ET, St. James' Park, Newcastle, England

New Zealand's third-place finish in Group E was a bit deceiving. Tony Readings' team lost to both Great Britain and Brazil, but those heavyweights scored just one goal apiece.

In their final group game, New Zealand raced to a 3-0 lead against Cameroon before winning comfortably, 3-1.

This might look like an easy win for Team USA, but that's probably not how the match will play out on the field.

With that said, the Americans are playing very well. Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan form the competition's best, most lethal attacking partnership, and the U.S. midfield is second to none with Lauren Cheney, Carli Lloyd and Megan Rapinoe all starring.

Look for a tight game, but if the American defense can hold firm, expect the U.S. to win.

Prediction: USA 2, New Zealand 1

Details: Friday, 7 a.m. ET, Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland

Both of these teams are capable of winning a medal in this competition. One will go home disappointed.

France raced to an early 2-0 lead against the United States before losing 4-2. In Gaëtane Thiney, Marie-Laure Delie and Elodi Thomis, the French have a wealth of dangerous attackers.

Sweden topped Japan in Group F, but it's looking like that was how Japan wanted it (see the Brazil-Japan slide). Can the Swedes take advantage?

Prediction: France 2, Sweden 1

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