Australia welcomes France to the quarter-finals at this World Cup. The knockout game is eventful. Two scenes tear the audience from their seats.
Pure madness. Sheer madness, as the Australian would say. That happened in the quarter-final match between Australia and France, which ultimately ended 7-6 in favor of the hosts on penalties. And multiple times. First, the French, who were superior for long stretches of the first half, shot the ball over the goal from just two meters in the 11th minute. Maelle Lakrar was the unlucky one who pulled off this almost unbelievable feat.
Then, in the 41st minute, there was another scene that took the spectators’ breath away. This time on the other side. After a through ball from Hayley Raso, the French back line was disoriented for the first time. Sakina Karchaoui and keeper Peyroud-Magnin could not agree on which of the two would clear the ball. Australia’s Emilie Van Egmond spluttered and sent the ball sharply into the box, where Mary Fowler had only to shove the ball into an empty goal.
Infernal noise fills the arena
Fowler didn’t need to be told twice and fired the ball precisely at the opposing goal, the 49,461 spectators in the sold-out Brisbane Stadium already had the goal scream on their lips. But then France’s Elisa de Almeida rushed on. The full-back boldly threw herself into the shot and steered it wide of the left post.
Fowler couldn’t believe it. Neither does the audience. A deafening noise filled the arena. A collective cry of pain. No goal. What a chance for the hostesses. France’s De Almeida celebrated her rescue with loud cheers to her team. She raised her arms, clenched her fists. France coach Hervé Renard also enthusiastically cheered the action on the sidelines.
“It was really frustrating,” Fowler told t-online after the game. “I had a big chance to turn the game around at that moment and I had to forget that quickly, otherwise the scene would have ruined the rest of the game for me.”
Fowler, always Fowler
The missed opportunity even seemed to inspire Fowler. Australia came out of the dressing room with plenty of momentum and Fowler kept looming dangerously in front of the French goal. In the 50th minute, she skilfully got through in the penalty area and shot a French defender from close range. Two fellow players had been free in the scene.
In the 52nd minute, infernal noise erupted again. The jubilation was for number 20. Australia’s superstar Sam Kerr. Coach Tony Gustavsson sensed that the momentum had shifted in his team’s favour. He threw a dangerous shot into the game with Kerr. But Kerr didn’t have the next chance. It’s Mary Fowler again.
The match-winner from the round of 16, when she almost single-handedly beat Denmark, came free from the penalty spot after a fine solo from Kerr. And again her shot didn’t go in. France’s keeper Peyroud-Magnin made a quick-witted save.
Pressure cooker on the sidelines
The odds ratio was now reversed (15:12 for Australia), almost only the team in yellow played. One attack wave after the next surged into the French penalty area. But the Matildas missed.
They created more good chances until the end of regulation time, but either luck was lacking in the end or a Frenchwoman threw herself in between. That also ate at the nerves of the trainers. Shortly before the end of the 90th minute, France coach Renard took on the crowd. First he argued with the referee again, then he gestured angrily in the direction of the spectators behind his dugout.
2023-08-13 08:51:00
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