Goal after just two minutes is enough for Team GB to beat
one of the favourites for gold and set up a quarter-final against Canada
on Friday
There were nearly 20,000 empty seats at Wembley - and this time Seb Coe was delighted.
A record 70,584 crowd, by far the largest audience ever to watch a women's football match in Britain, saw Hope Powell's side book a London 2012 quarter-final date with Canada on Friday.
LOCOG chairman Lord Coe has been deflecting flak all week about the yawning gaps left in Olympic arenas by corporate troughers, but the spaces here were a cause for celebration.
Being sent to Coventry may be a perverse reward for topping their group after a deserved win over Brazil, but it means Powell and co have avoided world champions Japan in the last eight.
A record 70,584 crowd, by far the largest audience ever to watch a women's football match in Britain, saw Hope Powell's side book a London 2012 quarter-final date with Canada on Friday.
LOCOG chairman Lord Coe has been deflecting flak all week about the yawning gaps left in Olympic arenas by corporate troughers, but the spaces here were a cause for celebration.
Being sent to Coventry may be a perverse reward for topping their group after a deserved win over Brazil, but it means Powell and co have avoided world champions Japan in the last eight.
Left-back Steph Houghton's third goal in as many games - after just
92 seconds - started the party; a composed finish from the tightest of
angles after beating keeper Andreia to Karen Carney's right-wing cross.
The early breakthrough was celebrated with a sprinkling of literary compost from the sultan of Twitter himself, Joey Barton, who blustered: "Go on the birds. I prefer them to the men. By a considerable distance as well."
While Mr Barton was collecting his coat, Kelly Smith - Watford's gift to world football - was squandering the chances to settle all arguments.
Smith directed a free header straight at Andreia when it looked easier to score, then her penalty was brilliantly turned round the post after Eniola Aluko was tripped by Rosana 10 minutes into the second half.
The early breakthrough was celebrated with a sprinkling of literary compost from the sultan of Twitter himself, Joey Barton, who blustered: "Go on the birds. I prefer them to the men. By a considerable distance as well."
While Mr Barton was collecting his coat, Kelly Smith - Watford's gift to world football - was squandering the chances to settle all arguments.
Smith directed a free header straight at Andreia when it looked easier to score, then her penalty was brilliantly turned round the post after Eniola Aluko was tripped by Rosana 10 minutes into the second half.
For the most part, it did not feel like a high-profile match at Wembley.
Football's most celebrated promenade was not lined by drunks swilling six-packs of lager or enough police horses to stage the Grand National.
And the audience was whipped into a frenzy by that well-known cheerleader, Sky Sports News presenter Vicky Gomersall, instructing patrons: "Let's make it more noisier."
Never mind the grammar, feel the sentiment - but the manner of Team GB's victory, and the atmosphere it generated, reflected only credit on all concerned.
Powell acknowledged the significance of the occasion, saying: "When I talk on the sidelines, the players can usually hear me, but the atmosphere was so fantastic it was an excuse for them to ignore me.
"I don't know if Steph is in line for the Golden Boot, but I don't look at her as the Gareth Bale of women's football because she's a goalscoring left-back.
"Maybe Bale is the Steph Houghton of the men's game!"
Football's most celebrated promenade was not lined by drunks swilling six-packs of lager or enough police horses to stage the Grand National.
And the audience was whipped into a frenzy by that well-known cheerleader, Sky Sports News presenter Vicky Gomersall, instructing patrons: "Let's make it more noisier."
Never mind the grammar, feel the sentiment - but the manner of Team GB's victory, and the atmosphere it generated, reflected only credit on all concerned.
Powell acknowledged the significance of the occasion, saying: "When I talk on the sidelines, the players can usually hear me, but the atmosphere was so fantastic it was an excuse for them to ignore me.
"I don't know if Steph is in line for the Golden Boot, but I don't look at her as the Gareth Bale of women's football because she's a goalscoring left-back.
"Maybe Bale is the Steph Houghton of the men's game!"
Source : Mirror.co.uk
