In the Women's Football Olympics competition, Zambia is hoping to upset the highly favored Germany team in order to advance to the knockout stages. On Wednesday, the third Group B encounter takes place at Saint-Étienne's Stade Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium. A big score is anticipated.
With zero points from two games, Zambia is at the bottom of the group and three points behind Germany in second place. Both sides will be playing with intent in this match because the top two teams will automatically advance to the knockout stages, while the third-place team will also be eligible.
As they try to earn a trip to the quarterfinals, both teams are preparing for what looks to be an exciting matchup.Zambia has only participated in two Games, having made a difficult debut in Tokyo 2020.
Zambia appeared to be headed for vengeance in their second match against Australia, following a crushing 3-0 loss to the USA in their opening encounter. They looked certain to win with a hat-trick from Barbra Banda and a brace from Racheal Kundananji, giving them a comfortable 5-2 lead.
Zambia can win and earn three points, but in order to maintain their hopes of winning, they must also get over their negative goal differential.Recent form doesn’t augur well, though, as they were beaten 3-0 by the United States and 6-5 by Australia in this tournament.
Germany started their tournament with a 3-0 win over Australia, but were sent crashing with a 4-1 loss at the hands of the United States. That result was more of an aberration, as they won seven of their last nine matches.
Most of these matches have been high-scorers, with six of their last eight matches producing at least four goals. With high stakes on the line here, Germany are expected to bring their best form and find some goals to ease nerves and get into the reckoning for a win.
But then they suffered a spectacular collapse and lost three goals in a row. Australia won 6-5 thanks to a spectacular goal from Michelle Heyman in the last seconds.
Under the leadership of former European champion Horst Hrubesch, Germany is presently ranked second in Group B. They had a strong start, but a big setback has hurt them recently. They defeated Australia 3-0 to start their campaign, with goals from Marina Hegering, Lea Schuller, and Jule Brand. But their next game, against the United States, served as a sobering reminder of reality.
Germany lost 4-1, despite a goal from Giulia Gwinn to even the score. The Americans showed off their accurate finishing and efficient utilization of scoring opportunities.