Watford-born footballer Kelly Smith admits Team GB’s hard work in the women’s football competition “will be for nothing” if they fail to defeat Canada in the quarter-final this evening.

Hope Powell’s side reached the knock-out stage of the Olympics’ competition without dropping a single point or conceding a goal.

Team GB topped their group after an impressive 1-0 victory against Brazil in front of 70,584 fans at Wembley – a record crowd for a women's match in Britain.

However, Smith is taking nothing for granted as the British squad continue their hunt for a medal at their home games.

“As we know, knockout football can be cruel. We’ve won our three games so far, which is great, but the next game is everything,” she told FIFA.com.

“We need to perform on that day just as well as we did against Brazil, because if we don’t then we’ll be out of the tournament and all of our hard work will be for nothing.”

She continued: “If I’m being totally honest, we weren’t really bothered about who we’d face. With the strength and depth of this squad we don’t fear anyone.

“But to a certain extent, given their style and the experience they have of winning the last World Cup, perhaps to some extent we’re pleased to avoid Japan. But Canada are in good form, particularly their strikers.”

Smith has failed to register in the competition so far, but she insists her lack of goals is nothing to worry about.

She said: “I know I’ll keep on getting the service and I’ll keep on getting the chances – and maybe I can put one in against Canada.”