Shepolopolo Zambia face Brazil on Tuesday at Saitama Stadium at 11:30 GMT in their final push for one of the two best third-placed quarterfinal berths on offer at the Tokyo Olympics Women’s Football Tournament.

Zambia are bottom of Group F with 1 point. They are three points behind second placed Brazil who are tied on 4 points with leaders The Netherlands.

China, who held Shepolopolo to a 4-4 draw in their penultimate Group F match on July 24, are third also on 1 point heading into Tuesday’s  simultaneous kick off against The Netherlands in Yokohama.

But Chipolopolo captain and striker Barbara Banda believes that after coming close to beating China, they fancy their chances in Tuesday’s final Group F fixture against the two-time Olympic silver medalists.

“We are looking forward to the next game against Brazil. We still have hope. And we have a strong feeling that we can do something in the next game.” Banda said.

Banda has also been Shepolopolo’s driving force at the Olympics where she has been breaking and equalling records with the highlight seeing her become the first player to score two hat-tricks in a single edition of the quadrennial event.

She scored the six goals in a 10-3 loss to The Netherlands on July 21 and Saturday’s draw with China.
However, only an outright victory over Brazil would suffice for Shepolopolo because of the permutations in the other two groups.

Australia and USA are tied on 3  points in Group G. And they meet on Tuesday in a battle for second and third place while leaders Sweden who have maximum 6 play New Zealand who have zero points.

In Group E, hosts Japan are third on 1 point and know a victory over bottom placed Chile who have zero points could just be enough for them to reach the last eight.

Great Britain leads Group E on maximum 6 points ahead of their clash against second placed Canada who have 4 points.