Australia qualified for the quarter-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup after defeating Denmark by 2-0 delighting more than 75,000 fans in Sydney. The Arsenal’s forward Caitlin Foord opened the scoring in the 29th minute off a low angle shot and Real Madrid’s winger Hayley Raso added a second goal in the 70th minute. The next opponent of the Australian women’s national team will be the winner of the match between France and Morocco.
Australia are reaching this stage of the tournament for the second time in their history after 2015. They started today’s match cautiously, but after the first goal they dominated and created other chances. After the break, Denmark tried to turn things around, but couldn’t do much in forward positions.
The joy of the hosts was even greater, because 10 minutes before the end, their captain Samantha Kerr appeared in the game. She entered to a standing ovation from the stands. Australia’s record goalscorer had a calf injury picked up shortly before the start of the World Cup.
Mary Fowler, who assisted for the first goal, made a very good game for Australia, being rated for the player of the match.