PARIS: Reigning Ballon d’Or Aitana Bonmati scored one goal and helped create another as World Cup holders Spain came from behind to beat Japan 2-1 in their first game of the women’s Olympic football tournament on Thursday.
Spain are making their Olympic women’s football debut at the Paris Games but are leading contenders to win the gold medal after their World Cup triumph in Australia and New Zealand last year.
They fell behind against Japan in the western French city of Nantes to Aoba Fujino’s early free-kick, but Bonmati soon equalized before Mariona Caldentey netted the winner in the 74th minute.
It is the perfect start for Spain in Group C, in which rivals Nigeria and Brazil meet later.
With 12 teams split into three groups of four, there is margin for error as the two best third-placed teams will advance to the quarter-finals.
That will provide some comfort for Japan, who won the silver medal at London 2012.
Spain’s starting XI featured seven players who were in the line-up for last year’s World Cup final win over England in Sydney, plus Alexia Putellas, the two-time former Ballon d’Or winner.
Japan’s side included Hinata Miyazawa, the top scorer at the World Cup, but it was Fujino who opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a fine strike from a dead ball which proved too powerful for goalkeeper Cata Coll.
However, Spain bossed possession and drew level midway through the first half when Bonmati was played in by Athenea del Castillo and rounded the goalkeeper to score.
They then grabbed what proved to be the winner when Caldentey came in from the left and played a quick exchange of passes with Bonmati before firing in.
Meanwhile, reigning Olympic champions Canada shrugged off a spying scandal to come from behind and start their campaign with a 2-1 win over New Zealand in Saint-Etienne.
Mackenzie Barry gave New Zealand the lead before an embarrassingly sparse crowd at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, the same venue where the men’s game between Argentina and Morocco was affected by crowd trouble on Wednesday.
However, Arsenal’s Cloe Lacasse levelled in first-half stoppage time for Canada, who beat Sweden on penalties in the final in Tokyo three years ago.
Evelyne Viens then latched onto a long ball forward to fire in the winner 11 minutes from the end.
Canada’s build-up had been overshadowed after an assistant coach and an analyst were sent home from the Olympics on the eve of their opening game.
The analyst, 43-year-old Joey Lombardi, was also given a suspended eight-month prison sentence for flying a drone over a New Zealand training session this week in Saint-Etienne.
Lombardi pleaded guilty when he appeared in court in Saint-Etienne on Wednesday.
The assistant coach was Jasmine Mander, to whom Lombardi reported.
Head coach Bev Priestman apologized and decided to take no part in the game against New Zealand as a result because she felt it would not be appropriate.
Canada and New Zealand are in Group A along with hosts France and Colombia, who meet later in Lyon.
Record four-time gold medallists the United States meet Zambia later in Group B, which also sees Germany take on Australia.

PARIS: The head of Argentina’s soccer federation said the chaotic ending to their Olympic soccer match against Morocco on Wednesday “makes no sense,” and Argentina’s coach called the scene “a scandal.”
The opening match of the men’s soccer tournament was suspended for nearly two hours during added time after Morocco fans invaded the field and threw bottles in protest of a late goal by Argentina. The goal was later overturned by the video assistant referee, and Argentina lost 2-1.
“What happened on the field was a scandal. This isn’t a neighborhood tournament, these are the Olympic Games,” Argentina coach Javier Mascherano said.
Paris organizers said they were trying to “understand the causes and identify appropriate actions” after the match in Saint-Etienne. Argentina’s soccer federation said it issued a formal protest Wednesday to world governing body FIFA and would do “what is necessary” to guarantee the safety of players.
“Having to wait almost two hours in the dressing room, after Morocco fans entering the pitch, the violence that the Argentina delegation suffered, our players having to warm up again and continue to play a match that should have been suspended by the main referee, is really something that makes no sense and that goes against the competition rules,” Argentina Football Association president Claudio Tapia said.
The Argentina team also said their training base was robbed before the game, with midfielder Thiago Almada’s watch among the items taken.
Meanwhile, Argentine President Javier Milei arrived Thursday in Paris, his office said, and is expected to meet French President Emmanuel Macron after tensions escalated between their countries over the Argentine soccer team’s derogatory postmatch chants about French players at Copa America.
Morocco fans rushed the field to protest Cristian Medina’s goal in the 16th minute of added time at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, which appeared to tie the game 2-2. Bottles were also thrown from the crowd and, in frenzied scenes, security tackled pitch invaders.
“Some of the fans thought it was the end of the match and decided to invade the pitch,” Thomas Collomb, the deputy director of security for Paris organizers, said Thursday. “The atmosphere was festive. At no time was there any security risk for players or spectators. Within minutes of the final whistle, a security bubble formed around the athletes.”
There were images of Argentina players flinching when what appeared to be a flare was thrown onto the field.
“I can understand why this might have been worrying for Argentine athletes,” said Bruno Le Ray, the organizing committee’s security director. “Stade Geoffroy-Guichard is known for having no barriers between the stands and the pitch. To our knowledge, no firecrackers were fired at any time. It’s definitely an incident, but not in the security sense.”
Morocco defender Achraf Hakimi wrote on X: “I deplore the attitude of certain supporters during the match, which tarnished the image of our loyal fans. Such behavior has no place in football.”
In the confusion, it was believed the final whistle had been blown when players headed to the locker room and fans were told to leave the stadium. FIFA’s official website declared the final score 2-2.
But it later emerged the game had been suspended with just minutes of play remaining and that Medina’s goal was being reviewed.
The players re-emerged to warm up in an empty stadium after about two hours and referee Glenn Nyberg confirmed he was reviewing video of the goal on the touchline monitor. He then confirmed it would be overturned for offside.
Morocco held on for the win as the teams played out the final three minutes.
“The game was suspended because of security. At no moment did they talk to us about any revision (of the play),” Mascherano said.
“Obviously it’s confusing, but we have to move forward. It’s already happened, it’s over. We have to focus on the two games (remaining). Save up the anger and let it all out in the coming games.”
Two-time gold medalist Argentina were one of the pretournament favorites and were aiming for more hardware after winning the World Cup in 2022 and back-to-back Copa Americas.
On Saturday, Morocco are scheduled to face Ukraine at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
“We’ll make sure we reinforce security by adding barriers or private security,” Le Ray said.