Football at Tokyo Olympics: Goal fest continues in women's event

Published at :July 25, 2021 at 6:06 AM

Modified at :December 13, 2023 at 1:01 PM

(Courtesy : Tokyo Olympics)

The USWNT and Sweden secured convincing wins as Brazil and the Netherlands settled for a draw.

After an intense opening day, women's football at the Tokyo Olympics had a similar second matchday. With all 12 teams in action, the heavyweights put on convincing displays at their own ends. Sweden and the USA's compelling victories put them in the top two spots in Group G, with knockout qualification only left to be a formality.

Despite drawing with each other, Brazil and Netherlands had their own share of positives to take away. Emerging as the standout fixture, the Zambia-China game saw eight goals, yet ended without a winner. Here are the main talking points from an exciting second matchday from Tokyo Olympics at the women's football event.

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Banda and Wang score hattricks as Zambia draw China

**Barbra Banda became the first woman to score two or more hat-tricks at Olympic Games (Courtesy: ESPN)**

The goal stream in women's football at the Olympics continued, as Zambia played a thrilling 4-4 draw against China PR. Barbra Banda, arguably the tournament's biggest revelation, scored her second hat-trick after Rachael Kundanazi opened the scoring for Zambia. Shuang Hang, on the other hand, single-handedly scored four goals for Zambia's opponents.

Zambia led from Kundanazi's header, before Wang's quick brace in two minutes saw China lead 3-1 momentarily. Banda's name on the scoresheet first appeared just before half-time, as she netted a penalty in the 42nd minute.

https://twitter.com/KhelNowWF/status/1418941539124846592

The 21-year-old's two crisp finishes from inside the box in the second half then made it 4-3 for Zambia. However, Wang's late penalty evened things up and a late red card to China didn't cause any damage.

After two games, Banda sits as the joint top scorer with six goals. Only Vivianne Midiema has scored the same number of goals as the Zambian attacker.

The battle of continental champions end in a draw

Tokyo Olympics football — **The draw keeps the Netherlands on top of Group F courtesy of a better goal difference (Courtesy: Olympics)**

The Netherlands and Brazil played a 3-3 draw, yet put on an entertaining show of football. With star-studded lineups, the European and South American champions always looked neck-to-neck against each other. Vivianne Miedema scored a brace, as Dominique Janssen scored from the spot for the Dutch. Debinha, Marta and Ludmila de Silva scored for the Selecao to level things up.

The Netherlands opened the scoring early, with Miedema scoring after a sublime turn in the third minute. Brazil's response was quick, as Debinha scored following some impressive movement in the 17th minute. Going into the first half level at 1-1, the teams came out with similar intensity in the second.

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Miedema, like the first half, scored early to put the Netherlands in the driver's seat with a header past Barbra. Brazilian legend Marta scored from the spot to cancel out the Netherlands' lead, before Da Silva scored one in the 68th minute to give Brazil the lead for the first time in the match.

However, Janssen's stunning goal stole the night's limelight. With a perfectly-place shot into the top-right corner, the Wolfsburg full-back left the Brazilian keeper with no answers. Despite Brazil controlling possession and forcing errors out of the Dutch defence, no further goals were scored in the remaining 10 minutes.

USWNT find their form back against New Zealand

**The United States recovered from their defeat against Sweden with a massive win (Courtesy: Olympics)**

After a crushing defeat against Sweden in their opening match, the US Women National Team (USWNT) secured a convincing 6-1 victory over New Zealand. In a confidence-boosting win, Rose Lavelle, Lindsey Horan, Christian Press and Alex Morgan scored a goal each. New Zealand gave away two own goals, on a night Julie Ertz bossed the show for USWNT.

For her 50th goal in national colours, Lavelle managed to run past Fern's defence from the right in the eighth minute for the US' opener. Horan's header in her 100th appearance doubled the lead going into the first half, as the USA created plenty of chances to keep New Zealand's defence busy. Four goals were disallowed for offside in the opening 35 minutes for the US alone, denying Carli Llyod a chance of getting on the scoresheet.

Despite an untidy defensive sequence that made the USA concede one, Alex Morgan's introduction swung things in their favour. Ertz's two assists on the night made sure the USA, on the back of a strong performance, emerged victorious.

Sweden's winning run continues with a win against the Socceroos

Sweden had already presented their candidacy for this year's gold medal with a thumping 3-0 win in their opening match. Continuing the same trend, the Swedes defeated Australia 4-2, courtesy of Fridolina Rolfoe's brace. Although Chelsea star Samantha Kerr scored a brace to put Australia in a 2-1 lead at the start of the second half, the team could not hold on to it.

Stina Blackstenius and Lina Hurtig got the other two goals, as Australia looked exhausted towards the end of the fixture. All of Sweden's four shots on target were converted, as they qualified for the next round from Group G.

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