An 85th-minute strike from the Scotland forward Caroline Weir cancelled out Adriana Leon’s second-half goal for Canada and ensured Team GB topped Group E ahead of their opponents.
It had looked as though Canada would inflict Team GB’s first defeat at the Olympics and leapfrog them in the table after Leon became the first player to breach the defence of Hege Riise’s side.
Given the luxury of having already qualified for the quarter-finals both managers had rung the changes, each swapping out six players from the starting XIs that played on Saturday.
Two of the trio of Team GB captains, Kim Little and Steph Houghton, dropped to the bench with Wales’ Sophie Ingle handed the armband. Millie Bright, Weir, Rachel Daly and Georgia Stanway returned to the lineup, and Jill Scott started in midfield.
The electric Lauren Hemp was rested, as was the defensive midfielder Keira Walsh, and the Arsenal defender Lotte Wubben-Moy and Manchester United forward Ella Toone were called up to the bench, with Fran Kirby included in the match-day squad for the first time after a knock in camp before the team’s arrival in Japan.
The international all-time record goalscorer Christine Sinclair (187 goals in 301 games for her country and counting) was rested for Canada.
Most pleasing from a Team GB point of view was that despite the overhaul the passing remained slick, with tight triangles artistically used to try to manoeuvre a way through a solid backline early on.
Rachel Daly, playing in her preferred forward role rather than in the full-back berth she often finds herself in, albeit on the wing and not centrally, twice had the opportunity to put Riise’s side ahead in the first half. First, played through on the right, she shot straight at the keeper, Stephanie Labbé, with the angle tight; then a slick ball around the defence from Scott played her in but the defender Ashley Lawrence was able to block the shot.
The best chance of the half, though, fell to Weir. A mistimed clearance from Kadeisha Buchanan landed at the feet of Nikita Parris, who fluffed a pass to Weir who, not expecting it, allowed Vanessa Gilles to clear.
The Canada manager and former England assistant manager Bev Priestman, perhaps frustrated by the dominance of Team GB on the ball, made changes at the interval, with Paris Saint-Germain’s Jordyn Huitema and Chelsea’s Jessie Fleming thrown on.
It didn’t take long for Team GB to be punished for their first-half profligacy. The PSG full-back Lawrence swept from her own half towards the byline before slipping a cross past the outstretched foot of Lucy Bronze at the near post and through a sea of bodies for a barely marked Leon at the back to fire in.
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Riise, unwilling to relinquish the side’s unbeaten record without out fight, turned to White, the scorer of Team GB’s three goals to date, and the Scotland midfielder Little. It was Weir, though, who went agonisingly close to an equaliser, sending a shot off the inside of the far post, via the crossbar, from a tight angle on the left.
Unperturbed, Team GB kept knocking on the door and the magnificent Weir got luckier next time, her shot from 30 yards taking a heavy deflection that wrongfooted Labbé and flew in.