Netherlands women's soccer blows out Zambia in historic win to open Olympics
Vivianne Miedema and the Netherlands women’s soccer team came to play on Wednesday in Tokyo.
Miedema scored four goals to lead the Dutch to a massive 10-3 win over Zambia to kick off the women’s soccer tournament at the Olympics.
The 13 combined goals makes Wednesday’s contest the highest-scoring game ever played in the Olympics.
Miedema scored three of her goals in the first half, and put the Netherlands on the board first in the ninth minute. Her final goal of the night came in the 59th minute, just before she was substituted off.
Lieke Martens scored two goals for the Netherlands, and Shanice van de Sanden, Jill Roord, Lineth Beerensteyn and Victoria Pelova each scored one.
Zambia’s three goals all came from team captain Barbra Banda. She got two of her goals back-to-back in the 82nd and 83rd minutes. The Cooper Queens, who were also playing in their first Olympics, had competed just once this year due to scheduling issues with the COVID-19 pandemic. They are the lowest-ranked team in the field at No. 104.
Both Zambia and the Netherlands will compete again on Saturday, when they will take on China and Brazil, respectively, in Group F play. Brazil beat China 5-0 earlier on Wednesday.
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