Australia Women vs Denmark Women. Women's World Cup Round of 16.
Stadium AustraliaAttendance75,784.
Match report from the Women's World Cup 2023 last 16 match between Australia and Denmark at Stadium Australia as goals from Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso helped the Matildas book their place in the quarter-finals of the tournament, where they will face either France or Morocco
Monday 7 August 2023 18:49, UK
Australia booked their spot in the quarter-finals of the Women's World Cup 2023 with a comfortable 2-0 win over Denmark.
Arsenal forward Caitlin Foord set the tournament co-hosts on their way with a clinical finish with just under half-an-hour gone at Stadium Australia.
Hayley Raso doubled the Matildas' lead with 20 minutes to play, with further positivity added when Sam Kerr - who had been sidelined with a calf injury since the start of the tournament - entered the fray for the final 10 minutes.
Tony Gustavsson's side now advance to the last eight, where they will face either France or Morocco.
Denmark pressed high and looked to set their stall out early on, with former Chelsea forward Pernille Harder making several menacing runs and striking straight at Mackenzie Arnold with 15 minutes on the clock.
However, with just under half-an-hour gone, Australia took the lead. Mary Fowler played a beauty of a ball into Foord on left, who drew goalkeeper Lene Christiansen from her line and found the net with a clinical low finish.
Foord almost had a second soon after when she cut off the left after collecting what looked like a lost cause, turned inside Rikke Sevecke and hit a shot that took a deflection and looped narrowly past the target.
The Danes continued to try and find a way back in after the break, but they lacked any real conviction going forward and, with 20 minutes to play, the game was taken away from them for good.
Fowler clipped the ball through to Emily van Egmond, who received it with her back to goal and fed Raso, who, off-balance, arrowed low into the bottom left corner.
And with the game all but wrapped up, Gustavsson took the chance to hand Chelsea forward Kerr her first minutes of the tournament to round off a wholly positive day in Sydney.
Australia will face France or Morocco in the quarter finals. Those two nations play their last 16 fixture on Tuesday August 8, with kick-off at 12pm.
The quarter-final will be played on Saturday August 12 at 8am.
The round of 16 takes place from August 5 to August 8 with eight games being played across Australia and New Zealand.
The quarter-finals, which will be held in Wellington, Auckland, Brisbane and Sydney, are scheduled for August 11 and 12.
The first semi-final will then be played on August 15 in Auckland, with the other semi-final taking place on August 16 at the Accor Stadium in Sydney, which will then host the final on August 20.
A third-place play-off will be played the day before the final on August 19 in Brisbane.
