The women won Canada’s first medal in a traditional team sport since 1936, it’s being reported.
Scoreless after 90 minutes, the game was in the second minute of injury time when Matheson found a loose ball in the second minute and was unmarked when she volleyed the ball past France goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi.
The win eased the pain of losing a heart-breaking semi-final to the United States, 4-3 in extra time, leading to the U.S.-Japan gold medal game today.
“It feels amazing, we felt as a group that we were going to earn this and we did in the last minute,” said Matheson to CTV. “Our goal coming in was to be on the podium and we had the perfect opportunity to do that, that is what we were focused on.”
Canada’s head coach John Herdman said his team answered everything asked of them coming off an emotional semi-final defeat to claim the bronze.
“It was a hell of a game the other night, the big question was could they repeat that? Could they get up again? And to be fair, we wobbled for long times but halfback four, Erin, Desi Scott, they were just remarkable and to see Sophie Schmidt covering the ground, they were posessed,” said Herdman, according to CTV.
