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 at the 2011 tournament and reached the quarterfinals in 2015 and 2019, suffered their third consecutive quarterfinal exit.

Australia will face the winner of the England-Colombia match later in the day in the quarterfinals.

France pushed hard from the start against Australia, who had the lopsided support of their home crowd behind them.

In the first 20 minutes, France had three shots on goal, while Australia didn’t have a single shot on target.

France’s star, Éugenie Le Sommer, who was making her 21st appearance at the 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 near post 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 top star, Sam Kerr, who first took the field against Denmark in the Round of 16 due to a calf injury, came onto the field wearing the captain’s armband in the 10th minute of the second half to a roar from the nearly 50,000 fans in 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, 카지노사이트킴 while Australia’s Courtney Vine converted cleanly to send the Aussies into the quarterfinals.