Caroline Weir believes Great Britain cannot live off their favourites tag in in tomorrow's women’s football quarter-final against Australia in Kashima (Fri, 12pm).
Unbeaten in the group stages thanks to the Scotland midfielder’s late deflected equaliser against Canada on Tuesday, GB are now one win away from surpassing their result at London 2012 and earning a guaranteed game for a medal.
The Matildas scraped into the last eight as the best third-placed team following a shock goalless draw with the once-mighty United States.
But with a semi next Monday against Sweden or Japan awaiting the winners, GB can’t expect to just waltz onwards, Weir insists.
“Australia are a top team, they’ve done well in their group and got a massive result against the US,” the Manchester City playmaker said.
“We know it’s going to be tough, it’s the quarter-final of the Olympics and it’s going to be a massive game for us but we’re looking forward to it. The first job was to get out of the group and now we look forward to the knockout stages.”
Fellow Scot Kim Little and leading scorer Ellie White are expected to return to Hege Riise’s starting line-up after the duo were rested in the 1-1 draw with the Canadians before influential late cameos.
The Norwegian has openly utilised all her resources in the opening phase but Weir, who was used as a super-sub in the pool victory over Japan, claims GB’s depth is a huge vital strength.
And the 26-year-old Fifer said: “We know that whoever gets put in that squad when Hege rotates, we’re going to get performances from people.”
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