Zambia began its campaign in the Olympics women’s football competition with a 10-3 loss to the Netherlands at the Hitomebore Stadium Miyagi in Japan.
The Copper Queens were down 6-1 at halftime with Zambia’s captain Barbra Banda making history by scoring the African nation’s first-ever goal at the Olympics after 19 minutes.
Banda ended the match with a hattrick, scoring twice in the 82nd and 83rd minutes.
For the Netherlands, Miedema scored in the 9th, 15th, 29th and 59th minutes; Martens (14th and 38th); van de Sanden (45), Roord (64) , Beerensteyn (75) and Pelova (80).
It is Zambia’s worst defeat in the history of women’s football, surpassing their 6-0 loss to Nigeria in October 2014.
Zambia qualified for the women’s Olympic football competition after defeating Cameroon 2-1 in the finals of the CAF women’s qualifying tournament.
The Copper Queens, who are in Group F alongside Brazil and China, did not have a smooth time preparing for Tokyo 2020 as most friendlies were cancelled because of the pandemic.
They play China on Saturday, 24 July 2021.
