Michelle Heyman the hero as Matildas keep Olympics dream alive with 6-5 win over Zambia

It was a comeback for the record books that provided more questions than answers, but Michelle Heyman has helped keep the Matildas’ Olympics dream alive with a late goal sealing an incredible 6-5 victory.

Michelle Heyman celebrates scoring the winner with her Matlidas teammates. Picture: AFP

In less than five minutes revived Matildas striker Michelle Heyman turned a terrible Australian performance against Zambia around — and she went on to score the matchwinner in the dying minutes to keep the Matildas’ hunt for an Olympic medal alive.

The scrappy 6-5 win will do little to ease the intense scrutiny the team face over their performance at the Olympics.

Coach Tony Gustavsson brought Heyman, playing at her first Olympics since 2016, into the fray in the 57th minute — and she forced an own goal less than a minute later — bringing the score to 5-3.

She came close to getting her name on the board two minutes later — the goal denied by VAR. The energy Heyman brought to the field gave the Matildas a sense of hope they had been missing since Zambian super striker Barbara Banda scored in the opening minute of the game.

She had two more by the end of the first half.

It was a superb free kick from captain Steph Catley that put the Matildas within touch of a win — just one goal away — with just under 30 minutes to play.

Catley wasted no time burying the penalty awarded in the 77th minute to put Australia back on par with Zambia.

Heyman finally got her name on the board — expertly placing a brilliant ball from Catley past the keeper to put the Australian’s ahead 6-5 with just minutes left on the clock.

Michelle Heyman celebrates scoring the winner with Matildas teammate Mary Fowler. Picture: AFP

Gustavasson said now was not the time to think about what went wrong against Zambia.

“What I said to the players in the centre circle is that right now is not the time to dwell on why we conceded so many goals,” Gustavsson said.

“I will look at the video tonight and we will work through that tomorrow.

“Right now we are focussing on the spirit and energy we used to get this done and turn the game around.”

Matildas have struggled to deal with set pieces this tournament, the basics like accurate passing, keeping the ball and finishing in the final third all trouble areas.

But Gustavsson said teams can get by without those things in major tournaments.

Stating that sometimes spirit is all a team needs.

“You can gain so much from spirit,” he said.

Tony Gustavsson said now was not the time to think about what went wrong against Zambia. Picture: AFP

“Obviously we have all the tactical things that we did as well, some of the things we did to turn this game around were actually brilliant tactically.

“But from being 2-5 down in the 55th minute, I don’t know if a team has ever done that before in this tournament in men’s or women’s, but it says everything about the never-say-die attitude in this group.”

The run to the podium won’t get any easier from here: the Matildas now have to face off against an in-form USA in just three days.

While it is a comeback for the record books it won’t stop questions being asked about why the Matildas looked so sloppy in the opening half of the match.

Gustavsson says it is too early to determine the cause of their lacklustre efforts on the pitch in France at these Olympics.

After the very poor performance in the opening 0-3 loss to Germany Gustavsson declared the team “wasn’t ready”.

Gustavsson said he was confident the team could turn it around against Zambia and get their tournament back on track.

But like the Germany game the Matildas failed to get out of the starting gate against their African rivals.

Banda scored within the opening minute of the game.

Barbra Banda’s early goal put the Matildas on the back foot. Picture: AFP

The Matildas tried to keep in it — with goals off the heads of Alanna Kennedy and Hayley Raso leaving the score at 4-2 at the first break.

While there were moments of promising passages of play the Matildas struggled to do the two things they needed to do to win the match - keep the ball and score.

Matildas had 12 shots in the first half, the same number as their opponents - but they just lacked the composure to find the net.

Mary Fowler, who was almost invisible in the opening game, had a lot more involvement this match. She was marked heavily and rotated through several positions but struggled to have a real impact on the game.

Pre-game Gustavsson said he knew the threat Banda posed and that they had worked on ways to combat her incredible speed and physicality — there was little evidence of this on the pitch.

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Their on-field efforts have to have alarm bells ringing back at Football Australia headquarters.

So much money, time and effort has been poured into ensuring these athletes could bring home a medal — instead they “weren’t ready”.

A concept hard to fathom given the long lead into the games, scouts hired to scope the competition and the 20 staff travelling with the team controlling everything down to how their training kits are folded.

A post-tournament review, which will likely have a heavy focus on the high performance team and the culture at the Matildas, will follow when they land back in Australia.

Experts, including former Matildas coach Tom Sermanni, said the unusually long pre-Games camp in Spain was a step too far.

Gustavsson said that he had even gained special permission from clubs to bring players into the camp a week earlier than the FIFA window allowed.

Former Matildas players told Code Sports they couldn’t recall ever doing a camp that long before.

Michelle Heyman was the hero for the Matildas as they kept their Olympics dream alive. Picture: AFP

Gustavsson has previously mentioned opposition teams that favoured a long training camp — perhaps he was trying to mimic his rivals.

But it seems to have blown up in his face.

Past players said camps that lasted too long can have a detrimental effect — the motivation wanes, fatigue creeps in and it is mentally draining.

The nervous energy and excitement disappears and players feel like they are running on empty before the first whistle blows.

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That was certainly how the Matildas appeared when they took the pitch against Germany. There were moments where players were walking and looked to just be zapped.

It was the same against Zambia. While the African nation is a rising force in women’s football they are 64th in the world — well below the 12th-ranked Matildas.

It only gets harder from here with the USA up next.

While USA were out of form at the World Cup new coach and former Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has them firing.

Gustavsson has just three days to prepare the team for a stand off with the USA.

Despite the long lead into the tournament and month long pre-camp Gustavasson said sometimes players need a few games to warm up at a tournament.

“Sometimes it takes a couple of games to get into a tournament and hopefully we play our way into this tournament when it comes to form,” he said.

“No one can questions their fitness after today — to push through that type of game when you’re three goals down with 35 minutes to go.

“There are things we can do better defensively, yes, but I think if we are fair, if you want to look at all the chances we had we were close to eight to 10 goals in this game.”

The Matildas face the USA on Thursday at 3am (AEST).

Originally published as Michelle Heyman the hero as Matildas keep Olympics dream alive with 6-5 win over Zambia