In what must surely be considered one of the greatest comebacks in the history of Olympic soccer, Australia’s Matildas overturned a 5-2 deficit against Zambia — with just over 35 minutes remaining in the match — to pull off a remarkable 6-5 victory in Nice.
The game looked as good as over by half-time, in no small part thanks to Zambia’s superb forward Barbra Banda, who bagged a first-half hat-trick, to put her country firmly in control at the break, 4-2.
But that’s when the fun really began. In the 56th minute, Zambian forward Racheal Kundananji — who holds the record for being the most expensive transfer in women’s soccer — made the score 5-2 with her second of the match, and the Copper Queens seemed assured of putting their opening group game defeat to the United States well and truly behind them.
But the footballing cliche of “2-0 is considered the most dangerous lead” may well need to be reassessed, as in the space of just 20 minutes, a brace from captain Stephanie Catley and Matildas substitute Michelle Heyman leveled the score at 5-5.
It felt as though a winner was inevitable, and with all the momentum swinging to Australia — perhaps the understatement of these Olympics — Heyman slotted home the winner in the 90th minute.
It would be the Matildas’ only lead of the night.
Somehow, no more goals were scored in the eight minutes of added time, and the final whistle brought about screams of joy — or perhaps something more resembling relief from Australia — and tears from Zambia, which still awaits its first ever win in women’s football at the Olympics.
And as the dust starts to settle on the most extraordinary soccer match we will surely see over the coming days, spare a thought for Zambia’s hat-trick scorer Banda. While the 24-year-old is now the first player in women’s football to score three hat-tricks at the Olympic Games, she remains winless across all three matches.
