Great Britain comfortably defeated Cameroon to win their second successive match at the Olympics and seal their passage to the quarter-finals of the women’s football competition.
Casey Stoney struck from close range before Jill Scott finished a sensational flowing first-half move.
Anita Asante was denied by a goal-line clearance but Steph Houghton struck with a crisp strike late in the match.
GB later lost Ifeoma Dieke, who was stretchered off after the break.
Analysis
“Steph Houghton is the golden girl at the minute. She can’t do anything wrong. She seems to be brimming with confidence. Her passing has been fantastic and two goals in two games is not a bad start for a left-back.”
The Scottish defender, who had earlier made a good block to deny Madeleine Ngono Mani, picked up an injury after tangling with Ajara Nchout in the second half.
It was the only real negative on a sunny afternoon in front of 30,103 in Cardiff when GB proved far too strong for a team thrashed 5-0 by Brazil in their opening Group E fixture.
Earlier in the day, Brazil had narrowly beaten New Zealand in their second group game, Cristiane hooking the ball into the net with five minutes remaining.
That result meant GB knew before they kicked off that a victory against their west African opponents would guarantee their qualification with a match to spare.
And once Hope Powell’s team struck twice in five minutes mid-way through the opening half they never looked in any danger of failing to pick up three points.
Stoney’s opener was in part the product of some fairly poor defending as the Indomitable Lionesses failed to deal with a free-kick whipped in from the right, allowing the GB skipper to stab the ball home from a matter of inches at the far post.
The free-kick had been awarded in the first place after Christine Manie had crudely hacked Kelly Smith to the floor – one of a series of awful challenges from her team.
The second goal was stunning, both in its creation and execution.
Kim Little timed her run to perfection to collect Smith’s deft pass before clipping the ball into the path of Scott, who struck with a first-time finish beyond Annette Ngo Ndom.
The double salvo settled any lingering nerves and Powell’s team, who will finish their group campaign against Brazil at Wembley on Tuesday, should really have added a third by the break.
Ngo Ndom did well to save strikes from Smith and Little, while the Cameroon keeper palmed a header from Houghton against the woodwork.
Cameroon had offered very little in attack but a quickly taken free-kick just before the interval almost opened up their opponents, only for Francine Zouga to shoot narrowly wide.
Asante, who wasted several good chances against New Zealand, saw a header cleared off the line by Bibi Medoua as GB went in search of a third.
That eventually came when Little, previously denied by the impressive Ngo Ndom, teed up Houghton to strike from the edge of the area with 10 minutes remaining for her second goal in as many games.
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