Every day throughout the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, 20 minutes provides an update on the highlights of the competition. This Monday, England and Australia unsurprisingly won their ticket to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, but it was much more complicated than expected for the reigning European champions against Nigeria (0-0, 4 -2 on penalties). On the eve of the France-Morocco clash on Tuesday (1 p.m. in Adelaide), the French coach of the Atlas Lionesses Reynald Pedros for his part spoke of his necessarily special approach to this meeting.
England come out of it at the end of the suspense, bye-bye Lauren James?
We have known it for several days, the sensations are frequent in this World Cup, with the premature exits of the road from Canada, Brazil, Germany and even the American defending champion on Sunday. Yet radiant in its previous match against China (6-1), the English selection found itself on the edge of the precipice on Monday against surprising Nigerians. Already falling from Australia (3-2) in pool, they twice touched the crossbar of Mary Earps (17th and 103rd). We even thought we were witnessing the turning point of this round of 16 when the disconcerting Lauren James (younger sister of Chelsea side Reece James) unpinned in this breathless match, in the 84th minute of play.
After having stumbled in a duel with Michelle Alozie, the 21-year-old striker got up, frustrated, and voluntarily stepped on her opponent. An attack that prompted video arbitration to intervene, so that Melissa Borjas transformed her initial yellow card into a logical expulsion. If England got away with it after penalties (4-2) and will face the winner of Colombia-Jamaica on Saturday, Lauren James could well miss the rest of this World Cup after her nasty gesture. “It was a very difficult match, acknowledged England coach Sarina Wiegman. We got a red card but we were solid in extra time. I’m very proud of the team and the way they performed. “A superb double Euro 2022-World 2023 is therefore still relevant on the British side.
Australians still euphoric in Sydney
We are obviously not going to say it too strongly this Monday, but we may have been able to discover the opponent of the France team in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. There is no doubt that before this very special round of 16 against Morocco, members of Hervé Renard’s staff had to observe the Australian selection, solid winner (2-0) of Denmark at home. In front of more than 75,000 supporters in Sydney, the Matildas lived up to the challenge, thanks to goals from Foord (29th) and the amazing Hayley Raso (70th). Note that the supposed attacking leader of this team, Chelsea striker Samantha Kerr, hit in the calf, was finally able to play her first minutes in this World Cup by replacing Raso in the 80th minute of play. Here is an additional weapon to face Saturday (9 a.m.) in the quarter-finals on (shh)…
Pedros will have ‘no remorse for beating France’
Reynald Pedros sees as “a wink of fate” this poster that no observer would have predicted, especially after the Moroccan opening debacle against Germany (0-6). However, we will be right on Tuesday to this France-Morocco which promises to be special for the former playmaker of FC Nantes and the Blues (25 selections.
“It’s a special match because I am French and my staff is French, evokes the coach of the Lionesses of the Atlas. But my heart is Moroccan, we’ve been working hard for this incredible goal for three years, and we’re getting there with a fantastic group. I really like this country, I discovered it and I’m very happy there. Today I will have no remorse or qualms about beating France. At least 98% of people think we’re not going to qualify. If the France team is stronger than us, we will go out with honors. The objective is indeed already clearly achieved for Morocco, which is playing the first World Cup in its history, a year after reaching its first African Cup of Nations (CAN) final.