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…
