Hosts Australia advance to quarterfinals after penalty shootout…will face England (full story)
Co-hosts of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia-New Zealand 2023 have advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating France on penalties.
FIFA No. 10 Australia advanced to the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup after defeating FIFA No. 5 France 7-6 on penalties after 120 minutes of 0-0 stoppage time at Brisbane Stadium in Brisbane, Australia, on Wednesday.
Australia, who had previously reached the quarterfinals three times in 2007, 2011 and 2015, made history by reaching the semifinals for the first time in their history.
France, who finished fourth in 2011 and reached the quarterfinals in 2015 and 2019, suffered their third consecutive quarterfinal exit.
France pushed hard from the start against Australia, who had the one-sided support of their home crowd behind them.
By the first 20 minutes, France had three shots on target, while Australia hadn’t had a single shot on target.
France’s star, Éugenie Le Sommer, who was making her 21st appearance at a World Cup, had a chance in the 28th minute when she broke free in the middle of the field and fired a hard shot from the edge of the box that was saved by the goalkeeper.
Australia took the lead in the 41st minute when Emily Van Egmond, who had the ball in possession, overlapped the keeper near the right goal line and slotted an exquisite cutback pass into the box, where Mary Fowler wasted no time in unleashing a right-footed shot into the empty net, only to be denied by the onrushing French defender Elisa de Almeida with a thigh-breaking save.
Both France and Australia had a number of chances to score the decisive goal, but both goalkeepers made brilliant saves to keep the first half scoreless.
Australia’s biggest star, Sam Kerr, who hadn’t taken the field since the Round of 16 win over Denmark due to a calf injury, walked onto the field in the 10th minute wearing the captain’s armband to a roar from the nearly 50,000 fans who packed Brisbane Stadium.
Neither team scored in the second half, sending the match into extra time.
Five minutes into the extra period, it looked like Australia had scored an own goal from a French corner on the right, but the goal had already been disallowed for a foul in a scuffle earlier in the match.
After 120 goalless minutes of extra time, the match went to penalty kicks.
France had Selma Bacha and Eve Perisse through their fifth kick, while Australia had Stephanie Catley and Mackenzie Arnold each missed two.
After a clean sweep through the eighth kick, both teams missed their ninth kicks to make it 6-6.
France’s Vicky Bechot missed her tenth kick, while Australia’s Courtney Vine converted cleanly to send the Aussies through to the last four.
At Stadium Australia in Sydney, Australia, England (FIFA ranked fourth) came from behind to beat Colombia (FIFA ranked 25th) 2-1 to reach the last four.
After beating Nigeria on penalties in the Round of 16, the ‘favorites’ were outclassed by Colombia in the quarterfinals.
Having reached the quarterfinals or better in all six of their previous appearances at the tournament, England will be looking to reach the final for the third time in a row, following the 2015 and 2019 tournaments.
Colombia beat Jamaica in the Round of 16 to reach the quarterfinals, their best-ever finish, but fell to their knees before England.
Colombia took the lead in the 44th minute through Lacey Santos.
In response, England equalized just before halftime when Lauren Hemp distracted the Colombian goalkeeper in a goal area scramble and slotted the ball home with her left foot.
England regained the lead 18 minutes into the second half when Alessia Russo rattled the opposite post with a strong right-footed shot from the right side of the penalty area.메이저놀이터
Australia and England will meet in the final on Saturday.
The other four matches in the tournament will be Sweden-Spain on Friday and Australia-England on Saturday.