The Women’s World Cup quarter-final between Australia and France had all the elements for a thriller: 120 minutes of edge-of-the-seat drama, tensed penalty shootout, and tears of joy and heartbreak in the end.
It took a 20 kicks from the spot to separate the two sides after 120 minutes ended in a stalemate. In the end, co-hosts Australia prevailed over France as forward Cortnee Vine emerged as the hero of the match, keeping her nerves to convert the decisive spot-kick past the France goalkeeper.
Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson stuck with the same team that started against Denmark in the last 16, while France brought the fit-again Maelle Lakrar back into their defence.
Both sides periodically controlled the match, but clear cut chances were few and far-between as both defenses kept each other’s attackers at bay.
France thought it had the breakthrough 10 minutes into the extra period when Ellie Carpenter turned the ball into her own net, but Australia was rescued when the Chilean referee blew for a foul.
The match went into a penalty shootout with both sides taking 10 shots each from the spot. Goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold could’ve won it for Australia earlier during the shoootout, but her strike stuck the post moments after she presented herself with the opportunity by saving Eve Perisset’s effort.
It was an agonising way for France to go out after a tense encounter watched by a sell-out crowd of 49,461.
Football, the universal unifier
As France and Australia battled it out in Brisbane, a flight full of passengers waited with baited breath.
In a viral video on socihttps://twitter.com/YungAqua/status/1690437208791003136al media, passengers of a flight were seen glued to their TV screens as the tie-breaker unraveled. Loud applauses can be heard from the entire airplane as soon as Cortnee Vine pushed the ball into the net.
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