The lowest ranked team wins the first match in the Women's World Cup
*Score: Mweemba 3', Banda (pen) 31', Kundananji 90'+3 - Herrera 47'.
Although both teams were eliminated before the final match, the clash in the last leg of Group C was not meaningless with Zambia or Costa Rica. In the second World Cup, Costa Rica wants to find its first victory at the tournament. That is also the goal of Zambia - the first landlocked African country to participate in the World Cups.
Costa Rica's goalkeeper Daniela Solera faced 71 shots from Spain and Japan in the previous two matches. She had another difficult day when she went into the net to pick up the ball in the third minute, after Lushomo Mweemba's goal.
As the lowest ranked team in the World Cup, Zambia disappointed in the first two rounds when conceding 10 goals. But before the opponent ranked above 41 places, the African representative proved to be superior in speed and strength in the first half. They led 2-0 after the break, thanks to a penalty from captain Barbra Banda. Zambia's goal in the 31st minute is also the 1000th goal in the history of the Women's World Cup.
Both teams defended indiscriminately and played somewhat naively. At the beginning of the second half, Zambia conceded a goal after a mistake by the defense. Excited from Herrera's goal to shorten the score, Costa Rica created many opportunities but missed them. When they thought they were entitled to a penalty, they were rejected by the referee because of the previous offside.
Towards the end of the game, the power of the attacking duo Banda and Kundananji on the Zambian side made the difference. While the Costa Rican defense was tired, the two players mentioned above took turns describing the conflict, causing suffering for the American representative. Kundananji scored his 10th goal in the last 12 matches, to seal a 3-1 victory after Banda's assist.
"Today is a historic day for Zambian football," captain Banda said after the game. "We want to win because we have so much support from our people. It's not an easy game, it's a battle."
