As the USWNT prepare to take on Zambia in their Olympics group stage opener on Thursday, they’ll have to include a game plan for how to stop forward Barbra Banda. The Zambian striker caught the attention of global audiences during the Tokyo Olympics where she became the first player to record back-to-back hat tricks in a single Olympic Games. She has scored 53 goals for Zambia through 60 matches and is currently Africa’s all-time leading goal scorer.
Just a few years later, she’s still making headlines as she made the leap from the Chinese Women’s Super League to the United States with NWSL’s Orlando Pride for a then-record transfer fee of $740,000. Her four-year deal is reportedly worth $2.1 million with bonuses.
The deal looks like a steal now as Banda continues to grow her scoring profile. She arrived in Orlando in April and has since scored 12 goals in 12 appearances with the club. Backlines have struggled to contain her, and her skillful ability to lull defenders into a false sense of secure positioning is unmatched. In pre-match comments ahead of the Olympics, USWNT head coach Emma Hayes referred to Banda as “the most in-form striker in world football.”
Banda’s playing with freedom, and joy, as she’s living a childhood dream of playing with her football idol Marta with Orlando Pride. During an interview with CBS Sports’ Attacking Third last month, Banda spoke on her clinical skillset on the pitch.
“Actually, I’m unpredictable,” Banda told Attacking Third. “I feel when I’m given a chance, I have to utilize my chances very well. So when I get a spot, I think I have a chance to score. I just have to put it [in the back] of the net. So for me, I’m very unpredictable and more especially during training and when it’s the game time, we get instructions from the coach, but it’s time [when] a player has to have their own personal knowledge. It’s not that everything that you’re going to use, what you practice in the pitch, but there is that element of your own that you need to apply during the game.”
