Matildas stay alive after late winner settles chaotic 11-goal Olympic thriller with Zambia

The greatest escape? In the history of international football, there have been comebacks. There have been thrillers. And then there was whatever the hell played out between Zambia and Australia in Nice on Sunday night.

The Matildas recovered from a three-goal deficit, a hat-trick from Zambian sensation Barbra Banda and a brace from the most expensive signing in women’s football Racheal Kundananji, to somehow emerge victorious. If the Matildas needed a heart attack to restart their Olympic campaign, they got one – and the three points that might just keep them at Paris 2024 beyond the group stage.

Related: Australia 6-5 Zambia: Matildas roar back from 5-2 down in Olympics thriller – as it happened

Perhaps never before has such an exciting game of Olympic football been enjoyed first-hand by so few. Only several thousand spectators had made the trek to the Stade de Nice, on the outskirts of the Mediterranean city. But they were treated to something spectacular and surreal, a see-sawing clash of attacking brilliance and defensive frailty of the kind rarely witnessed at this rarefied international level.

Already the obituaries were being written for the Matildas’ Olympic campaign. Already fans back home were sharpening their knives. Like the Marie Antoinette character in Friday’s opening ceremony, Matildas boss Tony Gustavsson’s head was firmly on the chopping block. Until suddenly it wasn’t.

1-0 Zambia. 1-1 Australia. 2-1 Zambia. 3-1 Zambia. 3-2 Australia. 4-2 Zambia. 5-2 Zambia. 5-3 Australia. 5-4 Australia. 5-5 Australia, through a VAR-awarded penalty, coolly slotted home by captain Steph Catley.

And then, at the death, super-sub Michelle Heyman found herself through on goal. The 36-year-old striker, who had retired from international football in 2019, only to return in the Sam Kerr-less Matildas’ hour of need. On the verge of the 90th minute, Heyman eyed off Zambian goalkeeper, Ngambo Musole. And all that went through the striker’s mind was a simple thought. “Don’t miss,” she laughed afterwards.

She didn’t. 5-6 Australia. Cue pandemonium.

Heyman’s precise strike gave the Matildas their first and only lead of the game. But it was the only lead that counted. An 11-goal thriller. And a comeback that will live on in Matildas lore for a very long time.

“It was a very eventful day,” said Catley, with a heavy dose of understatement. “We obviously wouldn’t want it to go exactly how it did. But I think the way that the game ended says so much for the heart and spirit of this team. I think we were five-two down in the 55th minute and we didn’t drop our heads once.”

The Matildas will conclude the group stage on Wednesday when they face the United States in Marseille. Australia can guarantee progress to the quarter-finals with victory over the Americans; a draw or even a loss might be enough, as the top two third placed teams progress.

They say that there are no pictures on the final scoresheet, no adjectives in the results column. “At the end of the day we needed to win – and that’s what we did,” Catley added. Gustavsson offered similar sentiments: “We just needed to score more than them tonight – and we did.”

That is all true – but it does rather obscure a technicolour world of emotion and chaos across those 90 minutes. Because for much of the encounter, they were not winning. For much of the encounter it was instead the nightmare in Nice: redux. In this very spot, the Matildas had been sent home from the 2019 Women’s World Cup following a devastating loss on spot-kicks (which included captain Kerr blazing high). It was the original nightmare in Nice – and it took four years, and one of the most remarkable shootout wins in football history, to banish those demons.

For 89 minutes on Sunday, this felt like the sequel – only much worse. For most of the match, the Zambians put Australia to the sword. Goal after goal went unanswered. Until, slowly at first and then suddenly, the Matildas come-back arrived.

This should have been a mismatch. Zambia are ranked 64th in the world, and even that is their highest position. The Matildas are 12th, and veterans of international tournaments. But when Banda opened the scoring within 40 seconds, she made it clear that the Matildas had a fight on their hands.

Even after Heyman’s goal, the 11th of the encounter, that fight continued – Zambia pushed to level proceedings. The crowd in Nice might have been few in number, but the hardy Australian contingent made up for it in full voice in the dying minutes. When Venezuelan referee Emikar Calderas blew the final whistle, the stadium erupted. It might as well have been at capacity. The crowd had been treated to a frenetic spectacle, and the Matildas – somehow – had emerged on top.

The whistle also brought devastation for Zambia. “Losing this kind of match is – this is worse than heartbreak,” said Kundananji. “We were winning, and then we just lose like that. Which doesn’t make sense.”

That perhaps is the best summary of what happened on Sunday night – something which does not make sense. For the Matildas, the nightmare in Nice no more, replaced by this surreal spectacle. And in the end, three points for the Matildas and their Olympic dream remains alive.