Australia picked up one of the most dramatic wins in the history of the women’s soccer tournament at the Olympics, beating Zambia 6-5 in Nice, France on Sunday.
Zambia got off to a quick start as Barbra Banda scored within the first minute, but Alanna Kennedy scored just six minutes later to level the score. From there, Zambia began to take charge of the game as Rachel Kundananji and Banda scored to give their side a 3-1 lead by the 33rd minute. Australia then began to chase as Hayley Raso scored in the 35th minute, but Banda completed her hat trick in the second minute of first-half stoppage time to give Zambia a 4-2 lead at the break.
Banda’s third goal marked her third hat trick at the Olympic Games in just five games, including two hattricks scored at the group stages of the pandemic-delayed edition in Tokyo in 2021. The forward now has the most hattricks in the history of the Olympics women’s soccer tournament, edging ahead of Brazil’s Cristiane, who has two.
Kundananji completed her brace in the 56th minute to give Zambia a 5-2 lead, seemingly providing Zambia with a cushion as they attempted to close out the game. Things began to turn out of their favor, though, as Australia scored four unanswered goals to pick up their first win of the competition.
Australia were first assisted by an own goal from Zambia goalkeeper Ngambo Musole just two minutes after Kundananji’s second. Steph Catley then scored from a direct free kick in the 65th minute to make it 5-4 and then scored the equalizer in the 78th minute after the referee awarded Australia a penalty. Both teams had their looks at goal in the dying minutes of the game, but Michelle Heyman scored in the 90th minute to give Australia the lead for the first time in the whole match.
This game got close but did not beat the record for the highest-scoring game in the women’s soccer event at the Olympics. That record was set in the Netherlands’ 10-3 win over Zambia in Tokyo when Banda also scored a hattrick. Zambia have yet to win a game in which Banda scored a hat trick.
Australia now have three points from two games in Group B, while Zambia have zero points from two games. Both still remain in the hunt for a spot in the knockout rounds, which will include the winners and runners-up from all three groups as well as the two best third-place teams.
