The French Riviera will be the backdrop for the Matildas second Group B match of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament when they take on Zambia on Sunday night at the Stade de Nice, Nice.
Australia will be aiming to bounce back against the African heavyweights, who are featuring in their second straight Olympic Games.
After expressing their disappointment in the result and performance of the opening match, the team quickly turned their focus onto their approach for the Copper Queens.
Zambia is anticipated to use their strengths of quick transition to utilise the potency of their forward attacking threats in captain Barbra Banda and her strike partner Racheal Kundananji. Zambia are not just their high profile talent of Banda and Kundananji, Kabange Mupopo and Grace Chanda also have the ability to create headaches for the opposition.
For Australia, the lessons learned from the opener will be front of mind with head coach Tony Gustavsson noting the need for the Matildas to be strong in one-on-one duels, aggressive pressing and to produce faster ball movement.
With Zambia likely to sit deeper when it comes to their defensive position, Australia’s ability to play through, around and over will come into the equation.
Being clinical in front of goal will also be key. While Zambia have striking power up front, the Matildas also have their own weapons in the final third and the team with the ability to convert any openings created will be well rewarded.
This match is likely to be a quick and intense game with a lot of transition and counter-attacking football as both teams have considerable speed and 1v1 ability in their squads.
However, in the past Australia has demonstrated the ability to control the tempo of an encounter and if they are able to do so against Zambia, it will go a long way to a positive result.
WHAT THEY SAID
Caitlin Foord: We love our fans who are willing to be there and support us all the way through, even when a game doesn't go the way it's meant to and not just jump on us straight away. We've said it before, stick with us, and I'm sure the true fans will. We will make it worthwhile for them to get up and watch us this time.
Mary Fowler: Our first game was disappointing. I think everyone knows we didn't perform to the levels we wanted to out there. I think everyone's just had a bit of a reset, reflected on that game, and are just really looking forward to the next one. I'm excited to go again. That's the nice thing about the Olympics, it is such a short turnaround that you can do better in the next one.
Clare Wheeler: Zambia have a really good forwardline, are really good on the counter-attack. For us, the midfield is going to be a lot of ground to cover, but at the other end of things, the game is going to be very open. That presents its own opportunities for us as well and we will definitely look to build on the attack and look to score some goals.
Tony Gustavsson: This team has shown it before and we take some learnings from experiences like Nigeria, [at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup] for example. How we bounced back from that, and then we played a do-or-die game, so to speak, against Canada, and played one of the best games in the World Cup after that setback. We also look historically, if you look at 2015 we lost the opening game [of the Women’s World Cup], and got out of the group. In ‘16 [at the Rio Olympics] we lost the opening and got out of the group. ‘19 [at the Women’s World Cup], lost the opening match and got out of the group. ‘21[Tokyo Olympics] lost a group stage game or ‘23 [Women’s World Cup] we lost a group stage game and got out of the group. Right now it's all about us making sure we get back on track and get out of the group.
HOW TO WATCH
Australia v Zambia
Date: Sunday 28 July 2024 (local) / Monday 29 July 2024 (AEST)
Kick-off: 7.00pm (local) / 3.00am AEST
Venue: Stade de Nice, Nice, France
Broadcast: Channel 9, 9Now & Stan Sport (Australia)