France defeated Panama by 6-3 in an attractive last match of Group F of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Kadidiatou Diani (28′, 37′ penalty, 52′ penalty) scored a hat-trick for the French women, while Maelle Lakrar (21′), Lea Le Garrec (45+5′) and Vicki Becho (90+10′) scored one goal. Marta Cox (2′), Yomira Pinzon (64′) and Lineth Cedeno (87′) scored for the Panamanians.
The match started with an early goal for Panama. Already in the 2nd minute, Marta Cox opened the scoring after a wonderful execution of a direct free kick. However, this seemed to anger the French footballers, who ran wild and scored 4 goals by the end of the half. First, Maelle Lakrar equalized with a header in the 21st minute, and seven minutes later Kadidiatou Diani made a complete turnaround. In the 37th minute, Kadidiatou Diani scored from the penalty spot, and at the end of the half, Lea Le Garrec made it 4-1 for France after a nice long shot.
The second half started again with French pressure and in the 52nd minute Kadidiatou Diani scored again from the penalty spot to complete his hat-trick to make it 5-1. The French then relaxed and Panama managed to pull two goals back, with Yomira Pinzon scoring from the penalty spot in the 64th minute, and Lineth Cedeno making it 5-3 with a header three minutes before the end of regular time. In the long extension given by the referee, Vicki Becho made the final 6-3 after intercepting a cross from the right.
Thus, France won their group and will play in the round of 16 with the second from the group of Colombia, Germany, Morocco and South Korea. Panama dropped out of the tournament after three losses and a goal difference of 3-11.
