August 7, 2023 Colombia makes history with Jamaica win, France dominates Morocco 4-0

Colombia reached the Women’s World Cup quarterfinals for the first time in the country’s history after a tense 1-0 victory over Jamaica in Melbourne, while France confidently knocked out Morocco to reach the last eight.

Catalina Usme brilliantly scored the winner for Colombia and, in the process, became the first player in this tournament to break Jamaica’s stubborn defense.

The Colombians’ reward is a last-eight tie against reigning European champion and ranked 4th in the world England in Sydney on Saturday, a match the South American team has the talent to win despite there being 21 places between the two sides in the world rankings.

France’s 4-0 victory over Morocco, a team that had reached the last 16 in its tournament debut, earns Les Bleues a last-eight tie against co-host Australia on Saturday.

Read more about today's round-of-16 matches at the Women's World Cup here.

The full-time whistle blows in Adelaide and it's a comfortable 4-0 victory for France.

This game was all but over inside the first 25 minutes. Goals from Kadidiatou Diani, Kenza Dali and Eugénie Le Sommer gave Les Bleues a commanding first-half lead before Le Sommer scored her second with 20 minutes remaining.

But what a first Women's World Cup this has been for Morocco, reaching the knockout stages on its tournament debut and defying its lowly ranking of No. 72 in the world.

It's France, though, which will meet co-host Australia in the final eight. These are the quarterfinals scheduled for Friday and Saturday this week:

That goal has surely secured France's place in the quarterfinals.

After a quiet second half, Eugénie Le Sommer gets her second of the game with a back-post header on 70 minutes.

Les Bleues are cruising, Morocco heading for a comprehensive defeat.

France's third goal before the break all but ended this match as a contest.

Morocco showed a bit of potential shortly after the restart, but it just doesn't have the quality in the final third to test France today.

You'd imagine the French players have one eye on the quarterfinal against Australia because they are not pushing themselves to their usual limit.

This second half certainly isn't one for the neutrals and both teams seem content to watch the clock tick by.

Morocco makes three changes to try and inject some energy into proceedings, but nothing seems to be working quite yet.

A little more than 20 minutes left of regulation time.

That would have been a tough half-time team talk for Morocco manager Reynald Pedros.

His side is 3-0 down in one of the most one-sided games of the tournament so far.

Morocco, which made history after making it into the last-16, will have to find nothing short of a miracle to get anything out of this game.

Perhaps, its only hope is that France will take its foot off the gas in preparation for the next round. Even then, things are looking difficult for the Atlas Lionesses.

It's half-time and the Atlas Lionesses have a mountain to climb.

Goals from Kadidiatou Diani, Kenza Dali and Eugénie Le Sommer have put France firmly in control of this round-of-16 game against Morocco.

A quarterfinal against co-host Australia is within reach for Les Bleues, while Morocco, making its World Cup debut let's not forget, needs a second-half miracle.

Lauren James has apologized for the incident which saw her receive a red card in England's penalty shootout win against Nigeria on Monday.

The 21-year-old was having an outstanding breakthrough tournament, but was sent off in the last-16 clash after stamping on opponent Michelle Alozie.

The petulant moment will see James banned for at least one match. A FIFA disciplinary panel will review the incident and the punishment could be upgraded to multiple games.

On Tuesday, James apologized to Alozie after the Nigeria star said she respected the young attacker.

The England team has also come out in support of its star.

In a statement Tuesday, the Lionesses said they would wait to hear FIFA's decision on the length of James' ban before providing any more comment.

Another goal for France in quick succession.

We always knew this could be a one-sided match, but the game is all but over after less than 25 minutes.

This time, it was Eugénie Le Sommer. It's poor defending by Morocco and an attempted clearance gets deflected into the striker's path. Le Sommer's finish past the goalkeeper was ruthless.

Morocco has a long time now to avoid this becoming a humiliation.

France is flying here and goes 2-0 up inside the first 20 minutes through Kenza Dali.

The build-up play is fantastic from Les Bleues as Diani goes from goalscorer to provider, picking out Dali on the edge of Morocco's area.

The midfielder produces a neat finish off the post to double France's lead.