Kadidiatou Diani and Eugenie Le Sommer played a crucial role for France, the latter getting a brace, as they defeated Morocco 4-0 to enter the quarterfinals of the FIFA Women’s FIFA World Cup in Australia.
Herve Renard’s side had put six past Panama in their final Group F game and with the return of several stars, continued with their form against Morocco. Kenza Dali, Sakina Karchaoui, Le Sommer, and Wendie Renard arrived, and together with Diani, they blasted their opponents with three goals in nine first-half minutes. Diani headed in from Karchaoui’s clever cross in the 15th minute for the game’s first goal. Minutes later in the 20th minute, the Olympique Lyon striker provided by finding Dali in the box, who was as tenacious in front of goal. Nesryne El Chad assisted Le Sommer when she decided that she wanted to join in on the fun as well. After being hustled by Diani, the Lille defender gave her the ball in the area, and France’s record goal scorer did not need to be told what to do next. With a goal from Le Sommer in the 23rd minute, France had tripled their lead in less than 30 minutes.
At half-time, France led 3-0. The second half was more balanced but France continued to apply pressure nonetheless. Soon, Morocco’s defence gave in to pressure and once again, Le Sommer netted the ball in the 70th minute to get her brace. Morocco pushed to get into the scoresheet, with tries coming from Anissa Lahmari and Ibtissam Jraidi. But France defended well to deny Morocco continuously. France will take on Australia in the quarterfinals.
Elsewhere, a goal from Catalina Usme helped Colombia beat Jamaica 1-0 and they reached their first-ever World Cup quarterfinal. It was not expected from either of these sides to make it to the final 16, but they matched up against all other tournament favourites to set up this match in Melbourne.
