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Alex Mott·12 August 2023
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Alex Mott·12 August 2023
With the World Cup taking place in Australia and New Zealand, plenty of fans around the world will be in bed when some of the games take place. Not to worry, we have you covered.
Australia made history as they reached their first ever World Cup semi-final after they beat France on penalties.
England took another step towards World Cup glory on Saturday as they came from behind to beat Colombia 2-1.
There may not have been any goals but Saturday’s early quarter-final between Australia and France had enough drama to last three World Cups.
The Matildas had already lost to France in their final friendly before the tournament and expectations were that, despite having home advantage, Les Bleus were slight favourites.
It was an incredibly tight 90 minutes with Mary Fowler going close for the hosts and France relying on some brilliance from Eugenie Le Sommer for their best chance.
But with the deadlock unbroken the match went into extra time and then penalties.
And what a shoot-out it turned out to be.
In fact, it was the longest penalty shoot-out in World Cup history – men’s or women’s – with final goalscorer Cortnee Vine netting the 20th spot kick.
Cue wild celebrations across the country.
It’s been a pretty difficult tournament for Alessia Russo.
After starring at the European Championships two years ago, the new Arsenal striker had looked isolated leading the line for England.
But her moment came today as the 24-year-old capitalised on a slight mistake by the Colombia defence and fired the Lionesses into the World Cup semi-finals.
Colombia had shocked England in the first half with a goal against the run of play, right before half time.
But Sarina Wiegman’s side are, as Lucy Bronze admitted in the week, the new “mentality monsters” and came back to set up a semi-final with Australia next Wednesday.
The Football Ashes await.
Mackenzie Arnold was just one penalty kick away from being the hero for Australia.
The Matildas goalkeeper took their fifth, and potentially winning, penalty against France but saw her effort fly back off the post.
But she redeemed herself later on in the shoot-out with a couple of fine saves to earn Australia the win.
We now take a bit of a break from proceedings with the two semi-finals taking place next Tuesday and Wednesday.
First up is Spain’s highly-anticipated clash with Sweden in Auckland.
La Roja beat Netherlands in their quarter-final but now face a Swedish outfit who knocked tournament stars Japan out in the last round.
Then it’s the co-hosts chance to make more history as they face the old enemy, England, in Sydney.
We can’t wait.