The correct answer for the question that is being presented above is this one: "<span>A.direct object." I assume that the underlined word is 'Game' So, the underlined word, game in the sentence is a direct object which is directly identified by the word playing.</span>
Answer:
defeated
Explanation:
The sentence is talking about competition between two teams hence only two words can suitably answer the question, victory and defeat.
Since the sentence says about last year winner and speaker tries to express some accomplishment by laying emphasis on winner adjective for opponent. It clearly suggest that they got better of a competitive team.
Hence defeated is the most suitable answer to this question.
Can you post the passage or the options please?