The Matildas have reached their first World Cup semi-finals after a dramatic penalty shootout victory against France, 7-6.
After a barren draw of a 120 minutes display of sheer guts and vigor from both sides, the spot kicks was ultimately called in to decide the tense encounter.
The Les Bleues had a goal that was ruled out in the 100th minute, due to a foul by the Les Bleues Captain, Rennard, on the Matildas’ player, Kennedy.
Despite the Les Bleues’ late-minute change of goalkeepers, to help in the penalty shootout, the Matildas’ scaled through in the shootout.
It was a heartbeat-pausing penalty shootout, as both teams played a total of 20 penalties, one of the longest in the competition.
The Les Bleues, Becho’s miss, allowed the Matildas a third chance to win the shootout, which was happily converted by Vine in the 20th penalty to see the Matildas’ through to a date with England or Colombia in Sydney on Wednesday.
Mackenzie Arnold has had a few words with Channel 7 in Australia. Clutching the player of the match trophy, she is understandably chuffed.
Honestly, I couldn’t tell you what’s going on in my head. I’m just overwhelmed. I’m a proud Queenslander tonight for sure.
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It’s gonna take me a couple of days to gather my thoughts and realize what’s just happened. Tomorrow we’ll review it and move on to the next game.
On her penalty that struck the post:
Honestly, that’s the first time I knew I was going to take one… My team rallied around me after I missed and that’s what got us over the line.
After I missed obviously, I wanted to keep the team in it and thankfully I was able to do it. At the end of the day, it’s my job.
The Matildas have joined Spain and Sweden in the top flight for the FIFA World Cup 2023 winner.
