Russo fires England past Colombia; Australia beat France on penalties | OneFootball

The final two Women’s World Cup quarter-finals take place on Saturday with the co-hosts taking on France and England battling with underdogs Colombia.

Here’s what happened.

England set up Ashes semi-final

Scorers: Hemp 45+6′, Russo 63′; Santos 45′

A second half strike from Alessia Russo was enough to see England beat Colombia 2-1 on Saturday.

Sydney was the venue as England took on underdogs Colombia for the chance to face Australia in next week’s semi-final.

It was the Lionesses who were enjoying a monopoly of the ball in the opening exchanges but Colombia were doing their best to upset the flow of the game.

The South American side were at their physical best with some challenges being on the verge of reckless.

And right on the stroke of half time Colombia took a shock lead.

Leicy Santos lobbed Mary Earps with a speculative effort that nestled into the far corner.

The Lionesses weren’t deterred though and equalised right on the whistle as Lauren Hemp bundled in to equalise.

Into the second half and England reverted to Nigeria mode as they struggled to put more than two passes together and were using set pieces as their only chance to score.

With one half-chance though, the Sarina Wiegman’s side were ahead.

A mistake in the Colombia defence saw Alessia Russo in on goal and the new Arsenal striker fired in emphatically.

Co-hosts send France packing

Scorers:

Australia beat France 7-6 on penalties to book their place in next week’s World Cup semi-final.

Two of the better sides in the competition met in Brisbane for a game against the winners of England and Colombia later on Saturday.

France had already beaten Australia in their final friendly game before the World Cup.

But with the Matildas having slowly built momentum coming into this clash, it really was all to play for.

It was a tense affair with the best chance coming in with five minutes to go as Mary Fowler had the goal at her mercy.

Somehow though, France defender Elisa De Almeida, flung her body at the ball and blocked Fowler’s shot on the goalline.

Into the second half and Les Bleus were knocking on the door with Eugenie Le Sommer going close.

But the momentum changed just before the hour mark as Sam Kerr was introduced in attack and immediately went about stretching the France defence.

Fowler, again, was at the heart of everything good in attack and really should have scored on 65 minutes only for her effort to be saved by Pauline Peyraud Magnin.

The game went into extra time and with 100 minutes gone France thought they had made the breakthrough.

Hayley Raso headed into her own net from a corner but the goal was ruled out after a push from captain Wendy Renard.

We headed into penalties but not before France subbed in goalkeeper Solene Durand specifically for the shoot-out.

France missed their first penalty as Selma Bacha’s weak effort whilst saved whilst Caitlin Foord fired home.

Things were levelled up in the next round of penalties as Kadidiatou Diani scored and Alanna Kennedy missed.

Australia almost won in as goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold fired at goal but her spot kick came back off the post.

And ultimately it was the Aussies who won out as Cortnee Vine fired in to win 7-6.