Australia’s hopes of reaching the ladies’s soccer quarter finals on the 2024 Paris Olympic Video games stay alive, following Monday morning’s beautiful 6-5 win over a devastated Zambia on the Allianz Riviera in Good.
A match which can go down in Australian sporting folklore, the Matildas got here from the clouds to pocket most factors, after trailing 5-2 inside 56 minutes.
From VAR checks to eight minutes of harm time – and all the pieces in between – this match had all of it and left spectators and gamers needing time to ponder what that they had simply witnessed.
Tied at 5-all heading into harm time, Michelle Heyman – considered one of three Australian substitutes introduced on following Zambia’s fifth aim – capitalised on a pleasant through-ball from captain Steph Catley and firmly positioned her shot within the backside proper hand nook of the online, as Zambian ‘keeper Ngambo Musole ruefully regarded on.
With victory, Tony Gustavsson’s facet sit third in Group B, with a win and defeat from their opening two matches. They’ve scored six and conceded eight targets up to now.
Elsewhere, the US comprehensively defeated Germany 4-1 on the Stade de Marseille, which ensured their spot within the quarter finals.
The Matildas tackle the US of their ultimate group recreation on Thursday morning at 1am WST in Marseille.
With the intention to qualify, the Matildas will doubtless want to finish the match as considered one of two third-placed sides with the very best rating, given the Germans will go into their ultimate match in opposition to Zambia as heat favourites.
For this to happen, Gustavsson’s facet is probably going going to want assist from outcomes elsewhere, together with a necessity to enhance their aim distinction in opposition to the gold medal favourites.
Total Medal tally (Monday, 6am WST)
Japan presently leads the medal tally standings, with 4 gold medals, two silver and one bronze. Australia is second with 4 gold and two silver. Different nations within the high 5 are the US, France and South Korea.
Canoeing
Australia’s Jess Fox – a flag bearer at Saturday morning’s opening ceremony – achieved her dream of Olympic gold, after claiming line honours within the canoe slalom Ok-1 ultimate.
Hockey
The Hockeyroos got here from behind to defeat South Africa 2-1 of their opening pool match, with targets to Stephanie Kershaw and Tatum Stewart. They’re in Pool B motion once more on Monday night time at 11pm in opposition to Nice Britain.
Rugby Sevens
Australia acquired off to a implausible begin on day considered one of ladies’s rugby sevens competitors on the Stade de France, with large victories over South Africa, 34-5, and Nice Britain, 36-5, respectively – guaranteeing their spot within the quarter finals.
Nevertheless the most important story was in Pool A, with China beautiful conventional rugby powerhouse Fiji 40-12.
Swimming
The boys’s 100m breastroke ultimate went proper all the way down to the wire, with Italy’s Nicolo Martingenghi claiming gold in outstanding circumstances.
The Italian completed two one-hundredths of a second forward of Nice Britain’s Adam Peaty and American Nic Fink, who each shared the silver medal.
Australian duo Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O’Callaghan additionally each certified for Tuesday morning’s 200m ladies’s freestyle ultimate.
Sunday wrap
Australians woke on Sunday morning to study that their nationwide heroes had begun in stirring trend – netting three gold and two silver medals, which ensured high spot on the medal tally leaderboard.
Except for particular person brilliance, workforce success was additionally aplenty, notably in males’s basketball and males’s hockey.
Basketball
The Boomers kicked off their males’s marketing campaign in model on Saturday afternoon on the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, defeating match fancies Spain 92-80 in a fiery encounter.
Led by Jock Landale (20 factors, 9 rebounds, 5 assists), the Boomers burst out to a 31-21 lead at quarter time, with their slick ball motion an excessive amount of for the Spaniards to deal with.
Brian Goorjian’s males shot 22/43 (51.2 per cent) within the paint, together with hitting 12/24 from past the arc.
The officiating crew was busy throughout the first half, calling 24 fouls, with pushing, shoving and spot fires flaring up periodically.
By the top of the sport, the foul rely hit 44, with six Spaniards ending the sport with three private fouls.
In distinction, 5 Boomers gamers ended with 5 fouls or much less, with centre Will Magney fouling out.
Australia’s subsequent group match is on Tuesday night time at 7.30pm WST in opposition to Canada.
Hockey
The Kookaburras had been pressured to dig deep throughout their opening 1-0 males’s victory over Argentina on the Yves du Manior Stadium, with a second of magic from Blake Govers within the second quarter separating the 2 sides.
Though in a position to maintain possession for prolonged durations, the Kookaburras had been routinely pressured to work their method via a wall of sunshine blue and white shirts, with the Argentines content material to park numbers again in defence.
Within the dying seconds of the match, sixth-ranked Argentina turned the screws in a bid to safe an equaliser, nonetheless a collection of high quality saves from Kookaburras ‘keeper Andrew Constitution denied them.
Street Biking
Amid driving rain and gloomy skies, Grace Brown’s smile shone brightly, because the 32-year-old claimed gold within the ladies’s highway biking particular person time trial.
Her victory additionally marked Australia’s first highway biking gold medal in 20 years.
Brown, who introduced earlier this yr she intends to retire from the game, overcame a difficult begin to fiercely maintain off Nice Britain’s Anna Henderson and American Chloe Dygert.
The heavy situations resulted in a spate of crashes, together with Dygert, who cruelly spun out whereas navigating a nook.
Previous to this, the American had seemed to be on target for a gold-winning trip.
Rugby Sevens
France produced arguably the most important upset throughout all tiers of males’s worldwide rugby this yr thus far, by thumping Fiji 28-7 at a pumping Stade de France on Saturday night time (WST) to say gold.
Heading into the ultimate, Fiji had by no means misplaced a males’s match at an Olympic Video games and had been aiming for his or her 18th consecutive victory, after simply seeing off Australia 31-7 within the semifinal.
Nevertheless ‘Les Bleus’ – led by an distinctive particular person show by Antoine Dupont – broke the sport open within the second half, after the match had been deadlocked 7-all on the interval.
Australia’s hopes of a maiden medal in males’s rugby sevens had been snuffed out within the dying levels of their bronze medal conflict in opposition to South Africa, who scored a late strive of their tense 26-19 win.
Swimming
Ariarne Titmus efficiently defended her 400m freestyle crown, whereas Australia additionally claimed gold within the ladies’s 4x100m freestyle relay – which was their fourth successive victory.
Elijah Winnington claimed silver within the males’s 400m freestyle, as did the lads’s 4x100m freestyle relay workforce.
