MoroccoDetails
| Date | Time | League | Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 August 2023 | 12:00 pm | Women's World Cup | 2022/23 |
Match Report
France have cruised into the quarter-finals with a dominant 4-0 victory over Morocco at the Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide this afternoon. An eight-minute scoring burst by Les Bleues with goals from Kadidiatou Diani, Kenza Dali and Eugenie Le Sommer effectively ended the tie before the twenty-third minute, while Le Sommer added insult to injury with a simple header in the second half. Herve Renard’s team were acutely aware of the potential banana skin that Morocco could be, especially considering the cultural links between the two countries and how eager to impress Morocco would be as a result, but France dominated the opening stages. The game's first goal would come in the form of a beautiful team goal, finished off by Kadidiatou Diani. Elise De Almeida fed the ball into Sakina Karchaoui, sending the left back forward. Her one-two with Salma Bacha created the space needed to cross for Diani, who was unmarked in the six-yard box and headed home to open the scoring. The French would be two goals up just four minutes later, with Diani turning provider for Kenza Dali. The French number eleven spun in behind the defence from a flicked pass by Dali before returning the ball back to the Aston Villa player. Dali’s shot from outside the box struck the post on its way past Khadija Er-Rmichi in the Moroccan goal, leaving the Moroccan goalkeeper rooted to the spot. The third goal of the game came in the twenty-third minute, and it would be France’s greatest-ever goal scorer that would get in on the action. Again Diani was involved, chasing down a lost cause as Nesryne El Chad sought to shepherd the ball out of play. Diani applied enough pressure on the Moroccan centre half, causing her clearance to fall to Eugenie Le Sommer and the unmarked veteran striker unerringly found the bottom corner from eight yards out. Morocco came out for the second half all guns blazing and looked dangerous in the opening ten minutes, but their quality in the final third of the pitch was lacking some cutting edge and failed to create a meaningful attempt on Pauline Peyraud-Magnin’s goal. France were comfortable for the majority of the second half and made it 4-0 in the seventieth minute, courtesy of a Le Sommer header. Substitute Vicky Becho beat the offside line and crossed from the right onto the head of Le Sommer, who made no mistake from point-blank range to double her tally on the night and increase her record to ninety-two goals in the blue of France. The second half meandered to its inevitable conclusion as Les Bleues marched on to the next round of the knockout stages, with the fifth-ranked side in the world ready to exercise their quarter-final demons against tournament hosts Australia. France’s quarter-final encounter with Australia will take place at the Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane on Saturday, August 12th (kick-off at 8:00 am GMT.)Formidable France Put Four Past Morocco to Advance to the Quarter-Finals
Timeline
Ground
| Hindmarsh Stadium |
|---|
| Coopers Stadium, Manton Street, Hindmarsh, Adelaide, City of Charles Sturt, South Australia, 5007, Australia |
Conor Cantwell
Conor Cantwell is a freelance sports journalist based in Co. Meath. Conor has been covering club football in Ireland and England since 2022. Conor has a keen interest in soccer, Gaelic games, rugby, tennis and basketball and has been writing blogs about the Premier League and the NBA since 2022.
FULL TIME: France 4-0 Morocco
Diani and Karcahoui come off for France and are replaced by Tounkara and Asseyi.
Le Sommer and Perrisset leave the field of play and are replaced by Feller and Cascarino.
Diani could have grabbed her second as De Almeida crosses into her just outside the six-yard box but the impressive attacker skied her effort high over the bar.
4-0! Le Sommer doubles her tally by heading in from point-blank range after a Becho delivery from the right-hand side
Toletti does come off and is replaced by Becho. Morocco make three changes also with Nakkach, Tagnaout and Lahmari make way for Kassi, Ghabri and Ayane.
Toletti, Karchaoui and Dali are all on yellow cards going into this game and should they receive one in this game they would miss the quarter-finals. Herve Renard may think about replacing them. Le Sommer has a chance to make it four but the ball bounces off her shins and rolls through to the keeper.
The first yellow card of the game is shown to El Haj for a late tackle on Le Sommer.
Jraidi gets into the French box but Peyraud-Magnin dives at the striker's feet to slap the ball back off Jraidi and put the ball out for a goal kick. France go down the other end and Geyoro fires a shot from outside the box which is blocked.
And we are back underway for the second half
HALF TIME: A dominant first half by France sees them 3-0 up after an eight-minute scoring burst. Goals from Diani, Dali and Le Sommer have France thinking about their quarter-final matchup with host Australia. A Goliath effort is needed by Morocco in the second half but I'm not sure even they believe it is possible. Second half action to come!
Three minutes will be added at the end of the first half.
Toletti controls the ball on her chest before firing a long-range effort just wide of the Moroccan goal.
Morocco have gotten more of the ball over the last few minutes but have struggled to create anything in the French half. Unfortunately, it is a case of how much France will win by and not if they will win.
Bacha hits the side netting with an effort at a tight angle after the set-up by Diani. The French number eleven is causing Morocco all sorts of issues.
3-0! Diani pressurises El Chad in the Morocco box and pokes her attempted clearance into the path of Le Sommer who made no mistake from 8 yards out. Morocco have been rocked by the France goals. This could get ugly.
2-0! Diani turns creator as she spins behind the defence and pulls the ball back for Dali whose effort clips the inside of the post on its way in. Le Sommer was offside but played no part in the goal. France dominating now.
1-0! Karchaoui gets down the left for the first time in this game with a one-two with Bacha and then whips a pinpoint cross onto the head of Diani for her fourth goal in the tournament. A beautiful team goal.
Lahmari is putting herself about early on with some excellent tackles against the French midfielders. Setting the tempo for her teammates.
The opening ten minutes have been dominated by the French without creating a chance of not. Morocco look solid and compact in the early stages and will need to keep this up if they want to give the French some issues down the stretch.
Bacha crosses from the left onto the head of Le Sommer. Her effort skews behind her to Dali but the Aston Villa player skied her effort over the bar
Early signs of life for France with Dali finding Bacha leading to a heavy touch that just takes the ball over the end line.
And we are underway with France in all blue and Morocco in red jerseys and green shorts.
Hello and welcome to the final round of sixteen encounter of the Women's World Cup. The game ahead sees France taking on the surprise package of Morocco at the Hindmarsh Stadium. Conor Cantwell is on hand to report on the game ahead.