Matildas stage do-or-die comeback triumph
The Matildas have staged their “most extraordinary comeback yet” with a miraculous 6-5 victory over Zambia in a match that originally looked to end in sure defeat.
Michelle Heyman celebrates scoring her team's sixth goal with teammates in the women's group B football match. Photo: Getty
The shell-shocked Aussies were trailing 4-2 after half-time and appeared on the cusp of catastrophe in the do-or-die match on Monday morning (AEDT).
But four consecutive unanswered goals in the second half, including the winning goal in the 90th-minute, has kept their Olympic dream alive.
Michelle Heyman was the never-say-die Matildas’ late, late hero, scoring the winner as they battled in one of the most extraordinary Olympic soccer matches ever played.
Trailing 5-3 with just 25 minutes left in Nice on Monday morning (AEDT), Tony Gustavsson’s side earned the crazy victory that’s taken their Olympic dream out of intensive care.
They seemed down and practically out at the Allianz Riviera Stadium, thanks largely to a wonderful performance from the great Zambian striker Barbra Banda, who scored a brilliant hat-trick, her third in Olympic annals, including a showstopping strike after just 40 seconds.
But with the Zambian defence in total disarray for long spells, the Matildas got their just desserts.
There were two late goals from Aussie captain Steph Catley, a strike from Alanna Kennedy, a header from Hayley Raso and a bit of help from the erratic Zambian keeper Ngambo Musole who was involved in a farcical own goal.
Ultimately, though it was the 36-year-old comeback star Heyman who won the day off the bench.
The super-sub kept a cool head with 90 minutes on the clock to slot home past Musole, after being freed by a superb Catley assist with the Zambian defence again having gone AWOL.
Gustavsson punched the air in delight even if the performance was once again far from convincing.
But the only thing that mattered after their 3-0 defeat by Germany three nights earlier in Marseille, just down the road on the Cote d’Azur, was the priceless victory.
It still gives the Matildas the chance to make it through to the quarter-finals but they may still have to glean a point against the powerful USA team in their final match to ensure they squeeze into the last eight.
There is nothing wrong with this team’s collective heart, though, as three times in the match, they faced a two-goal deficit, but simply wouldn’t lie down.
But there were tears from the Zambian team, who had been inspired by their two US-based superstars Banda and two-goal Racheal Kundananji – the world’s most expensive woman player – but were still denied their first Olympic win.
-with AAP
