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| Olympic-bound South Africa's women's team Banyana Banyana |
Africa now knows its path to gold at the
Rio 2016 Olympic football tournament.
The Olympic football tournament will
have a total of 58 matches with 32 for the men and 26 for the women.
Africa will have three teams in the
men’s competition (Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa) and two in the women’s
(South Africa and Zimbabwe).
In the women’s draw, South Africa has
been given a tough assignment having been drawn into Group E alongside hosts
Brazil as well as China and Sweden. Zimbabwe, who upset Cameroon to qualify,
will compete in Group F against Canada, Australia and juggernauts, Germany.
South Africa’s men’s team will also
face-off against the hosts and kick-off their campaign against Brazil at the
Estadio Mane Garrincha in Brasilia. Also in South Africa’s Group A is Iraq and
Denmark.
Nigeria, Olympic winners in 1996, will
fancy their chances of progressing out of Group B where they have been drawn
against Sweden, Colombia and Japan.
Africa’s final team in the men’s
competition, Algeria, has a slightly tougher task. The North Africa nation
faces Honduras and the difficult pair of Portugal and Argentina who won the
title in 2004 and 2008 and is again one of the pre-tournament favourites.
The tournament gets under way on August 3
with five other cities aside from Rio staging games: Belo Horizonte, Brasilia,
Manaus, Salvador and Sao Paulo. Both finals will be played at the Estadio
Maracana with the women going for gold on August 19 and the men following suit
the next day.
Rio
2016 Full Draw:
Men
Group A: Brazil, South Africa, Iraq,
Denmark
Group B: Sweden, Colombia, Nigeria,
Japan
Group C: Fiji, Korea Republic, Mexico,
Germany
Group D: Honduras, Algeria, Portugal,
Argentina
Women
Group E: Brazil, China, Sweden, South
Africa
Group G: USA, New Zealand, France,
Colombia
Group F: Canada, Australia, Zimbabwe,
Germany
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