Ashley Nakazwe

The Zambian Women National Team started off their Tokyo 2020 Olympics campaign with a major loss against European side, Netherlands.

The Copper Queens started off pretty well but lost control of their defense which led to the Dutch scoring 3 goals in the first 15mins of the game. Barbara Banda however managed to get one back in the 19th minute but 10 minutes later, Meidema scored her Hatrick to make it 4:1 to the Netherlands. In the 38th minute, Martens scored her second goal in the match while just before half time, Van de Sanden made it 6:1.

In the second half, the Zambian defence was still making errors that led to Miedema scoring her 4th goal in the 59th minute to make it 7. Goal numbers 8,9 and 10 came through from Rood (68th, Beerenteyn (75th) and Pelova (82nd) respectively to award the Dutch a double digit scoreline.

Just when it seemed to be all over, Barbara Banda gave the Zambians some dignity when she manged to get the ball into the net with a beautiful finish and a minute later scored a Hatrick to become the youngest African player in Women’s Football Olympic history to score 3 goals in a match.

The Copper Queens play China on Saturday July 24th, 2021 next.