Australia beat Denmark 2-0: Co-host advances into quarter-finals at 2023 Women’s World Cup

Co-hosts Australia reached the Women's World Cup quarter-finals with a clinical win over Denmark in the last 16 at a packed Stadium Australia.

Caitlin Foord put the Matildas ahead in the 29th minute, finishing from a tight angle following a great pass from Mary Fowler.

After thumping Olympic champions Canada 4-0 to qualify as Group B winners, co-hosts Australia now face Denmark in the Women’s World Cup round of 16. The Danes secured second spot in Group D with a 2-0 matchday-three victory over Haiti.

Hayley Raso added a second in the 70th minute with a driven finish after good work from Emily van Egmond.

Australia will face either France or Morocco in the last eight on Saturday.

Maltidas started slowly against Denmark but Stadium Australia in Sydney erupted after Fowler's great turn and pass set up Foord's opener on the break.

Encouraged by their goal the Matildas dominated the rest of the half with another Foord effort deflecting off Denmark defender Rikke Sevecke and dropping narrowly wide.

As the Danes pushed after the restart Foord broke down the left and played the ball to Van Egmond, who teed up Real Madrid's Raso to calmly slot home her third goal of the tournament.

With the game seemingly wrapped up Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson brought on captain Sam Kerr who was given a standing ovation when she replaced Raso with just over 10 minutes remaining.

The Matildas' record scorer played her first minutes of the tournament having picked up a calf injury in training on the eve of the competition.

Australia may have impressively fended off the disaster of a group-stage elimination as hosts with a 4-0 win against Canada but any team would be better with Kerr through the middle.

Australia will discover their last eight opponents when France take on Morocco on Tuesday (12:00 BST).

Australia vs Denmark Last 5 game results

Let’s have a look at the two teams’ most recent games:

Australia

July 2023: Canada 0-4 Australia

July 2023: Australia 2-3 Nigeria

July 2023: Australia 1-0 Republic of Ireland

July 2023: Australia 1-0 France

April 2023: England 0-2 Australia

Denmark

July 2023: Haiti 0-2 Denmark

July 2023: England 1-0 Denmark

July 2023: Denmark 1-0 China

April 2023: Denmark 1-0 Japan

April 2023: Sweden 0-1 Denmark

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