The 33-year-old watched on as Great Britain were placed in Group E alongside Brazil, Cameroon and New Zealand, while intriguing fixtures involving heavyweights Japan, Sweden and USA were formed in the other two pools.
Smith, England’s record female goalscorer with 45 goals, feels that London 2012 can help continue the strong momentum currently pushing women’s football following the success of last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany.
“This is the time now for women’s football to kick on and really be a showcase to see what the women’s game is about,” the Arsenal Ladies star says.
“The opening game at Cardiff is the event before the big ceremony so all eyes will hopefully be on that. This is definitely our time now for women’s football to be seen in the press and on TV and raise the profile of the women’s game.”
With five of the eight quarter-finalists from Germany 2011, as well as England’s contribution to Team GB, taking part in the July/August tournament, quality is sure to be high. Smith, however, is relishing the prospect of taking on some of the world’s finest teams and believes Great Britain are good enough to claim gold.
“I’m really pleased with the draw. Brazil is just a mouth-watering prospect, playing against Marta – one of the best players in the world – at Wembley,” Smith enthuses.
“New Zealand are an outfit that we are a little bit familiar with, playing for England. We played them a couple of times before the World Cup, then drew them in the World Cup and beat them. So we know a lot about them and their style of play. And then you have Cameroon, an African team we have never played against.
“I certainly like to think we can win it. The English-based players have got a lot of big-game experience now and we’re progressing in every tournament we play in.
“We beat Japan, who eventually won the World Cup last year, and were the only team to beat them at the tournament. We’re certainly moving in the right direction and I don’t see why we can’t get out of the group and reach the final.”
Story courtesy of FIFA.com.
For more on the world game go to www.fifa.com

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