France down Morocco to reach Women's World Cup quarter-finals
It was a battle for a place in the quarter-finals of the 2023 WWC after France topped their group with seven points, while Morocco advanced to the knockout rounds at the expense of Germany. Morocco sat 67 places behind France in the FIFA World Rankings and unsurprisingly saw little of the ball in the opening exchanges.
It didn’t take long for France and hat-trick hero against Panama, Kadidiatou Diani to get off the mark following great play down the left flank.
A brilliant Sakina Karchaoui cross found the head of Diani, who made no mistake from six yards out to score her fourth goal of the tournament.
Diani was involved again shortly after to make it 2-0 inside 20 minutes. This time she was the provider, neatly pulling the ball back for Kenza Dali, who placed a tidy finish into the bottom corner.
Morocco found themselves 3-0 down inside 25 minutes courtesy of more poor defensive work when Nesryne El Chad cleared the ball straight to Eugénie Le Sommer, who gratefully slotted the ball into the bottom corner. Sandie Toletti went close just before HT but her near miss sent Morocco in 3-0 down at the break.
The Atlas Lionesses had a much brighter start following HT and almost pulled one back when Ibtissam Jraïdi got in behind the French defence, only to be denied by a strong Pauline Peyraud-Magnin hand.
France sealed a place in the quarter-finals with 20 minutes remaining when substitute Vicki Bècho sent a wonderful looping cross towards the back post for Le Sommer, who headed into the bottom corner to round off the scoring.
France saw out the remainder of the game to set up a last-eight tie against co-hosts Australia and send Morocco crashing out of their debut WWC tournament. France have now placed themselves as one of the tournament favourites, taking their record to only one loss in their last 13 games.
Flashscore Player of the Match: Kadidiatou Diani (France)
