Without a shadow of a doubt, Jennifer Echegini from Nigeria will forever hold fond memories of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. According to PUNCH Sports Extra, she will always look back with a smile in her eyes for two significant reasons.
Despite the Super Falcons facing an early exit from the Women’s Football Tournament after losing all three matches in the group stage, the PSG midfielder found a reason to smile amidst adversity. She etched her name in history by scoring the 500th goal of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament with a magnificent strike from the edge of the box against Japan.
This solitary goal was the only success for Randy Waldrum’s team during the group phase, suffering losses of 1-0 to Brazil and Spain in the initial matches before a 3-1 defeat to Japan.
Among the notable statistics revealed by FIFA after the conclusion of the group stage on Thursday:
– Marta, the evergreen Brazilian, achieved her 200th appearance for the Seleção in a 2-1 loss to Japan. However, her milestone match was marred by a red card in the subsequent game against Spain, her 201st appearance.
– Alexia Putellas scored the latest goal in the history of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament group stages. Her stunning goal against Brazil came in the 17th minute of stoppage time, securing a 2-0 victory. This broke the previous record held by Canada’s Vanessa Gilles, who netted a dramatic winner against France in the 12th additional minute a few days earlier.
– Marie-Antoinette Katoto of France topped the scoring charts with five of the team’s six goals in the initial rounds, accounting for 83.3% of her nation’s goals. She joined the likes of Sun Wen from Sydney 2000 and Barbra Banda from Tokyo 2020 by scoring over 80% of her team’s goals in this stage of the tournament.
– The match between Australia and Zambia, ending in a 6-5 win for Australia, shattered multiple records. Notably, Australia’s comeback victory after trailing for 57 minutes set a new record for the longest time a team trailed before winning. This surpassed Sweden’s previous record of 43 minutes during Athens 2004. The game also became the second-highest scoring match in tournament history, with the Matildas becoming the first team to overturn a three-goal deficit to clinch victory.
– USA, led by Emma Hayes, secured three consecutive wins in the groups, accumulating a total of 30 victories, the most by any team. Their closest competitors are Germany with 19 wins and Brazil with 17.
– Defending champions Canada extended their unbeaten streak to ten matches after three straight wins. Only the USA, between 2008 and 2016, managed a superior feat by remaining undefeated for 15 consecutive matches.
– Brazil and the USA are the only teams to have participated in every knockout stage of the tournament since its inception in 1996, after both secured spots in the quarterfinals.
– Barbra Banda set a record by scoring three hat-tricks at the Games during the thrilling encounter with Australia. Having already scored consecutive hat-tricks at Tokyo 2020, her performance further solidified her place in Olympic history.
– In the group stages, Japan’s Momoko Tanikawa stood out as the only teenager to score, with her memorable 25-yard strike against Brazil in the sixth minute of stoppage time securing a remarkable victory.