Steph Houghton secured arguably the finest result in the history of British women’s football last night as Hope Powell’s side stormed into the Olympic quarter-finals by beating Brazil 1-0 at Wembley.
There have been more significant achievements but even FA officials privately conceded that against such formidable opposition, in front of a British record 70,584 crowd, there has been no better evening.
In pure statistical terms, Houghton’s third goal of the tournament meant Kelly Smith could afford to miss a second-half penalty and GB still managed to avoid a last eight meeting with World Cup winners Japan.
Instead, they must play Canada, the seventh-ranked nation in the world, in Coventry on Friday.
But after years of railing at the lack of attention given to women’s football, Powell’s girls had the chance to take centre stage. And just as she promised, they walked right into the spotlight.
Great Britain should not be confused with England.
The presence of Kim Little in Powell’s starting line-up and the now injured Ifeoma Dieke in her original squad was confirmation enough of Scottish representation.
Yet a measure of the task GB faced was the knowledge that England had beaten Brazil, in a competitive match, at any age group, by either gender, just once.
It came in the U-17 World Cup in 2007. The most notable members of the victorious team were Danny Welbeck, Victor Moses and Henri Lansbury.
Earlier in the day, Japan advanced into the quarter-finals after a goalless draw with South Africa in Cardiff.
For South Africa, the draw was their first point of the Games after they’d twice been well-beaten in their previous Group F matches.
Meanwhile, Abby Wambach maintained reigning Olympic champions the United States’ 100 per cent record in this year’s tournament with the defining moment of their narrow 1-0 victory over North Korea.
Wambach scored her 141st goal in her 185th appearance for her country in front of a 29,522 crowd at Old Trafford.
It was enough to guarantee the US top spot in Group G and a quarter-final clash on Friday against New Zealand.
Medals table
| Country | G | S | B | Tot. |
| China | 13 | 6 | 4 | 23 |
| United States | 9 | 8 | 6 | 23 |
| France | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| South Korea | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| North Korea | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Kazakhstan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Italy | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| Germany | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Russia | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| South Africa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Japan | 1 | 4 | 8 | 13 |
| Australia | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Romania | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Brazil | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Hungary | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Ukraine | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Georgia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Lithuania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Slovenia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Great Britain | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Colombia | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Mexico | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Indonesia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Cuba | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Denmark | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Egypt | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Poland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sweden | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Thailand | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Taipei | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Canada | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Slovakia | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Azerbaijan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Belgium | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| India | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Moldova | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mongolia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Norway | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| New Zealand | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Qatar | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Serbia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Uzbekistan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Today’s finals
Rowing
Women’s pair, women’s quadruple sculls, men’s eight.
Canoe Slalom
Men’s K1.
Cycling
Women time trial, men time trial.
Fencing
Men’s individual epee, women’s individual sabre.
Gymnastics
Men’s individual all-around.
Weightlifting
77 kg men, 69 kg women.
Judo
90 kg men, 70 kg women.
Swimming
Men’s 200m breaststroke, women’s 200m butterfly, men’s 100m free-style, women’s 4x200m freestyle.
Diving
Men’s 3m springboard.
Table Tennis
Women’s singles.
Shooting
Women’s 25m pistol.
Results
Basketball (men)
China vs Russia 54-73; Australia vs Spain 70-82; Lithuania vs Nigeria 72-53; Great Britain vs Brazil 62-67; France vs Argentina 71-64.
Fencing (men’s foil)
Gold medal final: Sheng (CHN) bt Abouelkassem (EGY) 15-13.
Bronze medal: Choi (KOR) bt Baldini (ITA) 15-14.
Football (women)
Group E: New Zealand vs Cameroon 3-1; Great Britain vs Brazil 1-0.
Standings: Great Britain 9; Brazil 6; New Zealand 3; Cameroon 0.
Group F: Japan vs South Africa 0-0; Canada vs Sweden 2-2.
Standings: Sweden, Japan 5; Canada 4; South Africa 1.
Group G: USA vs North Korea 1-0; France vs Colombia 1-0.
Standings: USA 9; France 6; N. Korea 3; Colombia 0.
Quarter-final pairings: Sweden vs France; US vs New Zealand; Brazil vs Japan; Britain vs Canada.
Volleyball (men)
Serbia vs Tunisia 3-1; Poland vs Bulgaria 1-3; Italy vs Argentina 3-1; USA vs Germany 3-0; Britain vs Australia 0-3.
Waterpolo (men)
Hungary vs Montenegro 10-11; Croatia vs Spain 8-7; Australia vs Kazakhstan 7-4; Greece vs Italy 7-7; Serbia vs Great Britain 21-7; USA vs Romania 10-8.