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Zambia will battle Germany on Wednesday evening in their final Group B match for the women’s football tournament at the 2024 Olympic Games, set for Stade Geoffrey-Guichard in Saint-Etienne.
Kick-off at 19:00 CAT.
The Copper Queens come into the clash on the back of an agonising and astonishing 5-4 loss to Australia on Sunday evening. The Southern Africans established a 5-2 lead on the back of a hat-trick from Barbra Banda and a brace from Racheal Kundananji, but ultimately succumbed to a stirring comeback from the Matildas.
“It’s very hard to explain that defeat because after leading 5-2 we had hope that we would carry the day but from the look of things the players became complacent, they could not concentrate, some of the goals we conceded I can say were silly goals, the penalty, we allowed too many crosses and set piece goals which should not be the case,” said coach Bruce Mwape.
“Our defenders have no good height to defend the aerial balls but that should not be an excuse, we just failed to concentrate. I believe our players have learned something from the game.”
Zambia have zero points from two Group B games, but still have a shot at qualifying for the quarterfinals – though they will need a big win over the Germans to either claim second spot or be one of the two best third-place finishers.
The Frauenteam suffered a 4-1 loss to the United States on Sunday, and will be looking to recapture the form they showed in an opening 3-0 triumph over Australia last week.
In head-to-head stats, Germany and Zambia have met in one previous match: an international friendly in July 2023 which the Southern Africans won 3-2 thanks to goals from Banda (two) and Kundananji.