Vanessa Gilles scored in the 62nd minute to give Canada a 1-0 win over Colombia, sending the team to the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics on Wednesday. This came despite Canada losing six points in the tournament due to a drone-spying scandal.
Canada will play against Germany in the quarterfinals on Saturday in Marseille.
Earlier that day, the defending Olympic champions failed to overturn the FIFA-imposed points deduction for filming an opponent’s practice in France.
Canada, having won its first two matches but not earning any points from those victories, needed a win in Wednesday’s match in Nice to have a chance of advancing.
“Going into the match we wanted to win regardless of what that ruling was,” Canada captain Jesse Fleming said. “It did not change our game plan or what we wanted to do.”
Canada had asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn the six-point penalty imposed by the sport’s world governing body for spying on New Zealand practices before their opening game last week.
“Chances were stacked against us, but we pulled through, we stayed together through it all and we have seen results of that,” Gilles said after the victory.
In the group’s other match, Marie-Antoinette Katoto scored in the 22nd and 49th minutes for France, leading them to a 2-1 win over New Zealand in Lyon. Kate Taylor scored in the 42nd minute for the Ferns.
