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The Australian Opals are looking to get their Rio Olympics campaign off to a fast start, and continue their perfect record against the hosts, Brazil. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 6:30am (AEST).
The Opals ended up with a bronze medal four years ago in London. This time they will be aiming to go better, and the final is well within their reach.
The Opals have spent their time warming up for the Games in the United States of America instead of Brazil and had some pleasing results.
They knocked over Canada and London silver medalists France in dominant displays, before going down in a high-scoring encounter to undisputed world champions the USA.
The key to the Australian team is their captain, Penny Taylor, and centre Liz Cambage. Taylor is coming off a strong season for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA and will look to continue that form here – something she did during the warm-up games with a double-double against France.
Cambage is 2.03 metres tall, where none of the Brazilian players go above two metres in height – that means they are likely to get dominated inside.
In saying that, Brazil will be relying on their WNBA players Clarissa dos Santos and Erika de Souza pulling off massive numbers in the paint.
They also need the experienced Iziane Castro on the wing to shoot the house down, and to call the shots on defence.
While Brazil won’t have a size advantage in the paint, they should have one on the wings and in the guard position, meaning Australia must shut down the hosts’ opportunities to create points.
Brazil’s form has been sketchy at best, having lost all their warm-up matches to France, before beating Japan 2-0 in a two-games series over the last week.
Australia and Brazil have met six times before, the last of those coming at London 2012, with the Opals winning all six meetings.
Prediction
The Opals have never had a problem knocking over Brazil before, and want to medal at the Games – that means they will be out to make a statement. Brazil will fight hard, given it is their first match on home floor, but won’t be a match for the Aussies.
Opals by 9.
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Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde