A dominant display at the Sapporo Dome in Japan marked a memorable day for our City contingent with nine of our players featuring in the Group E opener.
Ellie Roebuck, Lucy Bronze, Steph Houghton, Keira Walsh, Caroline Weir, Georgia Stanway, Lauren Hemp and Ellen White were all selected in Hege Riise’s starting XI, while Jill Scott was introduced from the bench late on. Demi Stokes was an unused substitute.
There were Olympic debuts for six of our players with White, Houghton and Scott having featured in the 2012 Games, and the City connection shone through.
Both goals were crafted in City blue, as Hemp helped Bronze’s looping cross back across goal for White to smash home the opener (with Roebuck, Weir and Stanway also involved in the build-up), and the striker acrobatically finished off another Bronze delivery with 17 minutes to go.
Competing in just their second Olympic tournament, GB started brightly.
Weir carved the game’s first opportunity but found Christiane Endler equal to her effort, following a well-worked passing move involving the Scot.
White thought she had opened the scoring on 11 minutes, converting after Stanway’s effort was parried, but the offside flag was raised.
Chile’s ventures into the opposition penalty area were rare - María Urrutia’s snapshot their best opportunity of the first half, while Karen Araya watched a long-range effort comfortably gathered by Roebuck.
At the other end, GB pressed for a second. A Stanway strike was blocked before Hemp cut inside and fired over the bar, and Millie Bright skewed wide.
White then clipped an attempt to the near post, which Endler claimed, and Houghton headed a corner off-target.
GB looked to pick up where they left off in the second period - the lively Hemp driving two efforts over the bar early on, and Stanway forcing Endler into a low stop - but two lengthy VAR checks took the sting out of the game somewhat.
Hemp and Walsh were substituted on 68 minutes.
Bronze then looped a header over the bar but the FIFA World Player of the Year would turn provider once more, crossing for White to double the advantage with an acrobatic volley to effectively kill the contest.
Scott replaced Weir in injury time to see out the final minutes.
A positive start for GB, who face tournament hosts Japan next on Saturday 24 July at 11:30 UK time.
