Australia, one of the co-hosts of the 2023 Women's World Cup, makes history by beating France and England turns the score around and leaves Colombia out.
On Saturday in the last two quarterfinals of the FIFA Women's World Cup, in Australia and New Zealand.
The Matildas, one of the host teams, managed to defeat France, one of the favourites, in a long penalty shootout and qualified for the first time in history to the semifinals. Colombia was eliminated after losing to England.
After the tie and a tremendous penalty shootout, Australia makes history and is in the semifinals.
The Australian team qualified this Saturday for the semifinals of the World Cup that it hosts together with New Zealand, eliminating one of the favorites for the title, France, after a goalless game that was decided in a shootout of ten penalties that ended 7-6.
After a total dominance by France at the start of the first half, the forces were equalized in the Brisbane Stadium (Australia), where the vast majority of the 49,461 spectators present dreamed of the qualification of the co-host team to the semifinals, which they were finally able to celebrate.
Mackenzie Arnold's impact in the most important moment for Australia at the Women's World Cup came as such a surprise that it was France coach Herve Renard who described it best.
"We were up against the Goliath of goalkeepers. What a game," Renard acknowledged.
Australia won the penalty shootout 7-6 against Renard's team after regulation and extra time ended 0-0 on Saturday.
Arnold was the "winning factor" according to the French coach, "in regulation time, but also in extra time and penalties".
Of course, Arnold was key to Australia advancing to the semi-finals for the first time and ending the supposed curse of the home side.
Cortnee Vine, who is playing in her first World Cup and came on as a substitute, was the 10th of 11 players to take a penalty kick for Australia. She stood at the penalty spot and looked to score as two of her team-mates could not. She calmly slotted home the winning goal for the Matildas.
"I don't have words right now to be honest," Arnold said, adding that the shot he missed was "incredibly disappointing", but that the eventual win was "unreal".
"I could have given the girls the win, but I missed, but the way they supported me and helped me keep a cool head," he said. "At the end of the day it's my job to keep the ball out and fortunately I was able to do that for them.
The quarter-final stopped Australia. Fans in other stadiums, in other sports, watched the live broadcast. The evening news programme was delayed so that everyone had a chance to watch the match on free-to-air television. The Aussies had another full house at the 50,000-capacity Brisbane stadium.
Australia had lost all three of their previous quarter-final encounters at the women's World Cup and went into the knockout stage with a lot of pressure knowing that the previous six home teams had all been eliminated before this stage, including France in 2019.
France were contesting the quarter-finals for the fourth consecutive edition, but have only one win in 2011 against England on penalties.
Australia became only the second host nation, behind the United States, to win the quarter-finals in nine editions of the women's World Cup.
Now, the Matildas will face England on Wednesday for a ticket to the final after the European champions beat Colombia 2-1.
End of the World Cup dream for Colombia, England is in the semifinals.
The Colombian team said goodbye to the World Cup this Saturday after suffering a comeback from the current European champion and one of the favorites for the title, England, who surpassed the great goal by Leicy Santos (m.44) with goals from Lauren Hemp (m. .45+7') and Alessia Russo (m.63) to eliminate the coffee makers in the quarterfinals.
Colombia, turned into the revelation of the tournament, wanted to continue surprising the world and enlarge its history in the World Cup against the great English power and for this Nelson Abadía lined up his gala eleven with the presence of the defense Manuela Vanegas, who did not participate in the round of 16 due to card accumulation.
With their win in a very physical match, the English will face hosts Australia next Wednesday in Sydney after they beat France. In the other semi-final series, Spain face Sweden in Auckland on Tuesday.
Colombia, already the surprise package of the tournament before their win over Jamaica, were looking to continue to surprise the world against the English giants and Nelson Abadía fielded a full-strength side that included defender Manuela Vanegas, who sat out the last 16 due to an accumulation of cards.
Leicy Santos gave the Cafeteros something to dream about when she opened the scoring in the 44th minute with a shot from the edge of the box that caught England keeper Mary Earps off guard.
England equalised soon after through Lauren Hemp after a mistake by goalkeeper Catalina Perez, who dropped a ball in the six-yard box.
The Lionesses pulled one back in the 63rd minute with a shot from Alessia Russo who took advantage of a through ball through the Colombian defence.
The match was played at Sydney's Stadium Australia with a majority of Colombia fans still chanting "sí se puede" (yes we can) to encourage the Cafeteros when the score was already against them.
Led by Leicy Santos, the South Americans looked for the equaliser with insistence, reaching the English penalty area with great danger, but the Europeans were very secure defensively and the South Americans ran out of time to try to force extra time and continue making history in a World Cup that will nevertheless remain in Colombia's memory.
Calendar and schedule of the Women's World Cup 2023.
Quarterfinals: August 10-12
Semifinals: August 15 and 16
Third and fourth place: August 19
End: August 20
Source images: Twitter FIFA Women's World Cup.
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