The famous ‘never say die’ attitude of the Commbank Matildas proved tried and true tonight as they came from behind in a 6-5 victory against Zambia.
Nice Stadium hosted this evening’s match and with both sides losing by three goal margins on opening day, they were hungry for victory.
Australia manager, Tony Gustavsson, made a singular change to the side that suffered the disastrous loss to Germany earlier in the week, Emily van Egmond coming in to replace Cortnee Vine.
Bruce Mwape, the manager for Zambia, however, was forced into at least two but decided on three changes to his side instead.
Line-ups
Zambia: 18 Ng’ambo Musole, 4 Esther Siamfuko, 16 Esther Muchinga, 3 Lushomo Mweemba, 13 Martha Tembo, 20 Racheal Nachula, 7 Misozi Zulu, 15 Hellen Chanda, 17 Racheal Kundananji, 11 Barbra Banda, 9 Kabange Mupopo
Australia: 1 Mackenzie Arnold, 12 Ellie Carpenter, 14 Alanna Kennedy, 15 Clare Hunt, 7 Steph Catley, 16 Hayley Raso, 8 Kyra Cooney-Cross, 10 Emily van Egmond, 6 Katrina Gorry, 9 Caitlin Foord, 11 Mary Fowler
First half
The game kicked off with a nightmarish start for the Matildas, as within the first 40 seconds of the game, Barbra Banda buried the ball into the back of the net at range, putting Zambia ahead 0-1.
Australia looked to equalise in the following three minutes but goalkeeper, Ng’ambo Musole, did well to keep them at bay until an incredible corner delivery from Steph Catley found Alanna Kennedy.
The Manchester City defender nodded the ball in, drawing the sides neck and neck in the seventh minute.
Racheal Kundananji proved her worth as the world’s most expensive female footballer just under 10 minutes later.
She slotted the ball through Kennedy’s legs, hitting the post before it bounced behind goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold.
In the 33rd minute, Arnold came off her line to punch away a free kick but the ball landed favourably for Banda who got onto the end of it and sent the ball into an open goal for 1-3.
The chaos ensued, with Hayley Raso making it 2-3, just two minutes later, heading in a corner taken by Kyra Cooney-Cross.
In the four minutes of added time, Banda made a monumental achievement, netting a first half hat-trick in her third Olympic hat-trick in five games.
After a corner kick that Emily van Egmond attempted to clear, the ball landed favourably for the Zambian forward to strike, furthering their lead.
Second half
The start of the second half saw the quietest 15 minutes of the match, despite both sides coming close to scoring.
In the 56th minute, Banda won a free kick and Kundananji showed another moment of quality, heading it in for 2-5.
Two minutes later, Gustavsson made three substitutions and after just stepping onto the field, Michelle Heyman scored with a backheel.
The goal was officially ruled an own goal after it deflected off of Musole, before hitting the net.
The Matildas, now relentless, went for goal again.
This time, Foord took over the run of Heyman and scored in an open goal, but VAR ruled that it was offside.
This did not deter Australia’s skipper, Catley however, as she made a clean strike in the 65th minute and while Musole got both hands to it, the ball slipped from her grasp and narrowed the gap further.
Captain Catley struck again when Foord won a penalty and the Arsenal defender rippled the net with the equaliser, not 20 minutes until the end of normal time.
The foul on Foord earned Esther Muchinga a booking and Mwape made two substitutions in hopes of some fresh legs.
Kennedy was shown a yellow card not long after this for a foul on Banda.
In the final minute of normal time, Heyman shattered Zambia’s Olympic dream after a one-on-one with Musole where she found the back of the net once again.
Post-match
Despite their impressive performance and just under 10 minutes of added time, Zambia are still yet to win their first Olympic match.
After successive losses, their defeat to Australia means that Zambia now sit at the bottom of Group B, while Australia remain third.
Both sides will be looking ahead to extremely challenging matches, with Australia soon to face four-time Olympic champions, the US, and Zambia facing heavyweights Germany on Wednesday next week (31 July).
Featured image courtesy of Christian Haugan via Flickr. No changes were made to this image. License details found here.
For more of our Paris 2024 Women’s Football Olympic coverage click here.