Canada ties Japan in Olympic soccer as Tokyo sees 6 month excessive in COVID-19 instances – Nationwide | Globalnews.ca

Mana Iwabuchi scored within the 84th minute and Japan pulled right into a 1-1 draw with Canada to open the Olympic girls’s soccer event on Wednesday.

Christine Sinclair, the all-time main worldwide scorer amongst women and men, scored her 187th profession aim within the sixth minute to present the Canadians the early lead. It got here in her three hundredth look with the staff.

Iwabuchi answered late with a protracted strike that caught Canada goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe out of place.

1:55
City of Vulcan comes collectively in assist of first Olympian

The Tokyo Video games are Canada’s fourth Olympics. The staff has received bronze medals within the final two.

Sinclair has performed in all 4 appearances, scoring 12 objectives in 15 video games _ together with the game-winner towards Brazil within the third-place match in 2016.

The Canadians are enjoying underneath coach Bev Priestman, who took over when Kenneth Heiner-Moller stepped down final June.

Japan, which certified as hosts, didn’t make the sector for Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Referred to as the Nadeshiko, Japan received silver on the 2012 London Video games.

Group play continues on Saturday with Canada going through Chile and Japan enjoying Britain on the Sapporo Dome. Earlier Wednesday, Britain defeated Chile 2-0.

Tokyo’s coronavirus infections have surged to a six-month excessive with the Olympic host metropolis logging 1,832 new instances simply two days earlier than the Video games open.

Tokyo is at the moment underneath its fourth state of emergency, which can final till Aug. 22, masking your entire period of the Olympics that begin Friday and finish Aug. 8. Followers are banned from all venues within the Tokyo space.

Japan Medical Affiliation President Toshio Nakagawa says the surge has been anticipated whatever the Olympics. Consultants say instances amongst youthful, unvaccinated individuals are sharply rising as Japan’s inoculation drive loses steam because of provide uncertainty. About 23 per cent of Japanese are absolutely vaccinated.

4:35
Remaining countdown to Tokyo Olympics riddled with uncertainty

Well being specialists on Wednesday warned Tokyo’s infections would solely worsen in coming weeks. Dr. Norio Ohmagari, the Tokyo metropolitan authorities’s skilled panel member, says Tokyo’s common each day instances may hit round 2,600 in two weeks in the event that they proceed on the present tempo.

Japan has recorded about 84,800 infections and greater than 15,000 confirmed deaths because the begin of the pandemic, most of them because the newest wave in January.