Five quick hits from Women's World Cup: France sets up Matildas quarterfinal clash as Colombia reach
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Round of 16 is complete and we now know who will play in Matildas' next match. Meanwhile, a Caribbean tale came to an end, while a South American tale continued. Matildas will face France in the quarterfinals Kadidiatou Diani and Kenza Dali made a great connection in the 20th minute. Matildas and Les Bleues have never met on football's biggest stage, but if the words "World Cup" and "France" give you goosebumps, it may have something to do with Australia's disappointing performance in the country four years ago. Now, if Australia is make it to quarter-finals on their home soil for the first time at World Cup, they will need banish some French demons at Lang Park in Brisbane on Saturday evening. Matildas beat France 1-0 in their last warm-up match a week before tournament, but that wasn't very convincing, and longer tournament went, better French got. After a 0-0 draw with Jamaica, they Brazil 2-1 and beat Panama 6-3 to advance to the top of Group F and Morocco 4-0. That's 12 goals they've scored in the last three games and the attack is really humming. Matildas' back line of Steph Catley, Ellie Carpenter, Clare Hunt and Alanna Kennedy, along with goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, conceded three goals against Nigeria in the group stage and will have a much harder time against France's forwards. French connections France captain Wendie Renard played in Lyon under Moroccan coach Reynald Pedros. Before facing Morocco, France coach Hervé Renard said he had "great memories [and] great friends in Morocco" from his time coaching the men's team. Renard led Morocco's men to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. On other hand, Moroccan coach Reynald Pedros made 256 appearances for the French men's side led Lyon to national and European titles between 2017 2019. There was a great love between Morocco and France. Sakina Karchaoui assisted France's first goal. He has Moroccan parents there are numerous other links between the two countries and other North African countries such as Algeria Tunisia. But Renard said he wanted to win even when playing against his friends. And he and France certainly kept that promise. Jamaican Reggae Girlz gains worldwide fan base Cedella Marley may be best known as the reggae royal family, but she's also famous for her love of the Jamaican women's soccer team, which she helped rescue with a public fundraising campaign nearly 10 years ago. In fact, at the pre-match press conference, coach Lorne Donaldson went so far as to say that without Cedella, Jamaica would not have a women's soccer team. After Jamaica progressed through the qualifying stages of this tournament, Marley gave an emotional interview about how far Reggae Girlz have come. "She couldn't stop the tears from flowing just to hear the whistle," she said. “They were tears of joy, but also of exhaustion. "Women's soccer is still not widely accepted in Jamaica... but the rest of the world has caught up. "Jamaica will eventually catch the girls who represent them. I'm not sure this hap