Defending champions the United States are likely to beat their North American neighbors Canada in Friday's quarter-final at Beijing Olympic women's soccer tournament.

It will be the two teams' first-ever meeting in the Olympic finals.

"Meeting the US at the Olympics is awesome for us," said Canada defender Candace Chapman. "We'll give it everything to get a result off them."

The Canucks have been chasing the shadows of USA for a long time and have made rapid progress in recent years, but they rely too much on the physical strength, long passes and air balls, and always lose to a better organized and technical team. This time, the skillful Americans have high hopes of stopping their rough power.

The Americans were stunned by Norway's quickfire 2-0 win in the opening game, but restored by downing Japan 1-0 and New Zealand 4-0 to top Group G. They kept their positive attacking style even in the first defeat, enjoying ball possession and controlling the rhythm.

Heather O'Reilly, Carli Lloyd, Amy Rodriguez and Lindsay Tarpley have shown good form during the group stage, they took over the task of scoring from injured tall forward Anny Wambach.

The Canadians have only beaten the USA four times out of their past 43 meetings, and have never managed a victory in international competition. They qualified as the third-placed team of Group E, and the mediocre show in the group stage might not boost their chances against the reigning champions.

Canada oust Argentina 2-1 and tied hosts China 1-1, before bowing to Sweden 1-2. They did well in the set-pieces, direct long balls, fast runs, tough challenges and tackles, but lack accuracy, witness and technique in the passing and movement.

The Cannucks are very familiar with their neighbours.

"We have played the Americans so many times, and they always manage to beat us in the important matches. But they have some injury problems right now so this could be our time," said ace striker Christine Sinclair.

Sinclair has good partnership with Kara Lang in the Canadian forward line. The predatory striker netted a nice goal against China from Lang's assist. The pair will be the Canadian stakes to test the USA.

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2008)