Australia will be aiming to bounce back against the African heavyweights, who are featuring in their second straight Olympic Games. 

After expressing their own disappointment in the result and performance of the opening match, the team quickly turned their focus onto their approach for the Copper Queens.  

Zambia is anticipated to use their strengths of quick transition to utilise the potency of their forward attacking threats in captain Barbra Banda and her strike partner Racheal Kundananji.  Zambia are not just their high profile talent of Banda and Kundananji, Kabange Mupopo and Grace Chanda also have the ability to create headaches for the opposition.  

For Australia, the lessons learned from the opener will be front of mind with head coach Tony Gustavsson noting the need for the Matildas to be strong in one-on-one duels, aggressive pressing and to produce faster ball movement.   

With Zambia likely to sit deeper when it comes to their defensive position, Australia’s ability to play through, around and over will come into the equation. 

Being clinical in front of goal will also be key. While Zambia have striking power up front, the Matildas also have their own weapons in the final third and the team with the ability to convert any openings created will be well rewarded.  

This match is likely to be a quick and intense game with a lot of transition and counter-attacking football as both teams have considerable speed and 1v1 ability in their squads.  

However, in the past Australia has demonstrated the ability to control the tempo of an encounter and if they are able to do so against Zambia, it will go a long way to a positive result.  

WHAT THEY SAID

Caitlin Foord: We obviously love our fans that are willing to be there and support us all the way through even when a game doesn't go the way it's meant to and not just jump on a straightaway. We've said it before, stick with us and I'm sure the true fans will.  We will make it worthwhile for them to get up and watch us this time.

Mary Fowler: Obviously our first game was disappointing. I think everyone knows that we didn't perform to the levels that we wanted to be out there. I think everyone's just had a bit of a reset, reflected on that game, and are just really looking forward to the next one. I'm excited to go again.That's the nice thing about the Olympics is that it is such a short turnaround that you can do better in the next one. 

Clare Wheeler: Zambia have a really good forwardline, are really good on the counter attack. For us, the midfield, like you said, is going to be a lot of ground to cover, but at the other end of things, the game is going to be very open. That presents its own opportunities for us as well and we will definitely look to build on the attack and look to score some goals. 

Tony Gustavsson: This team has shown it before and we take some experience learning from experiences like Nigeria, for example.  How we bounced back from that, and then we played a do-or-die game so to speak, against Canada and played one of the best games in the World Cup after that setback. We also look historically, if you look at 2015 we lost the opening game {of the Women’s World Cup], and got out of the group.  In ‘16 [at the Rio Olympics] lost the opening and got out of the group. ‘19 [at the Women’s World Cup], lost the opening and got out of the group.  ‘21[Tokyo Olympics]  lost a group stage game or ‘23 [Women’s World Cup] lost a group stage game and got out of the group. Right now it's all about us making sure we get back on track and get out of the group.

HOW TO WATCH

Kick off is 3am AEST Sunday 29 July. Watch live and free on 9Now.

MATCH DETAILS

Australia v Zambia

• Date: 28 July 2024 (local) / 29 July 2024 (AEST)
• Kick-off: 7.00pm (local) / 3.00am AEST
• Venue: Stade de Nice, Nice, France
• Broadcast: Channel 9, 9Now & Stan Sport (Australia)