Australia p0-0 France: Matildas reach first ever Women's World Cup semi-final after penalty shootout win over Les Bleues
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Updated 12/08/2023 at 10:40 GMT
Australia have made history after reaching a first ever Women’s World Cup semi-final after beating France on penalties. A tense match saw neither side able to break the deadlock over the course of 90 minutes and the additional half an hour of extra time. A topsy-turvy shootout eventually went the way of the Matildas when Cortnee Vine converted the winning spot kick.
Players of Australia celebrate their side's victory in the penalty shoot out after Cortnee Vine of scores the winning spot kick at Brisbane Stadium on August 12, 2023 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Image credit: Getty Images
Australia beat France 7-6 in an epic penalty shootout at the end of a tense and goalless Women's World Cup quarter-final.
Cortnee Vine scored the decisive spot kick, after Mackenzie Arnold had saved multiple French efforts but also missed when she herself had the chance to win it.
Australia are into the semi-finals for the first time and will play either England or Colombia next.
France had started the match strongly through Kadidiatou Diani, who drilled a shot wide when had she gone down, Alanna Kennedy perhaps would have been facing a red card.
Maelle Lakrar stabbed over from inside the six-yard box when it looked easier to score, but Australia did end the first half better and it required a great Elisa De Almeida block to stop Mary Fowler opening the scoring.
Sam Kerr's arrival as a 55th-minute substitute woke up the 49,000 spectators in attendance in Brisbane. It was Fowler again who had Australia's best chance soon after, but she shot straight at Pauline Peyraud-Magnin.
Extra time was need with neither side able to break the deadlock, and in due course penalties. A Kennedy own goal, correctly ruled out for a shirt pull off the ball, was the closest either side came to winning the match in the extra 30 minutes.
TALKING POINT
It was a shootout for the ages. Twenty of the 22 players still on the pitch took spot kicks in what must go down as one of the dramatic shootouts in World Cup history. From misses to saves, to brilliant penalties and even some VAR drama, it had it all.
Arnold - who at one stage squandered the chance to be the ultimate hero - came good. France's tactic of bringing on shot-stopper Solene Durand for the shootout did not result in a win, although Durand did make one supreme save to keep France alive. And Vine - who presumably did not fancy a penalty, hence taking 10th - held her nerve. Delight for Australia, but heartbreak for France.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Elisa De Almeida (France). Asked to play right-back, De Almeida turned in a brilliant display, shutting down Australia's left flank and popping up with a massive block to deny the biggest chance either side created being a goal.
PLAYER RATINGS
Australia: Arnold 8, Carpenter 7, Hunt 6, Kennedy 6, Catley 6, Raso 6, Gorry 6, Cooney-Cross 6, Foord 7, Fowler 7, Van Egmond 5. Subs: Kerr 6, Vine 6, Yallop 6.
France: Peyraud-Magnin 5, De Almeida 8, Lakrar 6, Renard 7, Karchaoui 7, Dali 6, Geyoro 6, Toletti 5, Bacha 6, Le Sommer 5, Diani 7. Subs: Becho 7, Durand 6, Perisset 4.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
12' BIG MISS - A French corner comes to Le Sommer, who scuffs a shot back across goal and into the path of Lakrar - inside the six-yard box - but the ball comes off Lakrar's shin and balloons over.
41' SENSATIONAL BLOCK - France make a real mess of things as Peyraud-Magnin and Karchaoui leave an innocuous ball for one another. Van Egmond steals in and squares for Fowler, right in front of goal, but De Almeida flies in to block on the line.
60' SAVE - Fowler chests down a deflected cross and shoots from just behind the penalty spot, but straight a the goalkeeper.
100' DISALLOWED GOAL - France have a corner which should not have been. A flat delivery into the six-yard box is headed into her own net by Kennedy, but the referee has spotted an offence from Renard so rules the goal out.
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Wendie Renard reacts during the quarter-final against Australia
Image credit: Getty Images
105' CHANCE - Foord beats De Almeida down the left and crosses towards Vine at the near post, who gets there first but cannot guide the ball into the net.
120' PENALTY SHOOTOUT - The game goes to penalties and 20 are needed to separate the teams. But, at the third tome of asking, Australia score a sudden-death spot kick after France had missed and they win 7-6!
KEY STATS
- Australia have never reached the last four of a football World Cup before, women's or men's.
- It is the first time the host nation has advance past the quarter-finals of the Women's World Cup since 2003.
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