France Crushes Morocco 4-0, Advances to Women’s World Cup Quarter-Finals

A perfect combination down the left flank with her "mini-me" Selma Bacha, the Olympique Lyonnais defender, allowed Sakina Karchaoui to provide an assist for Kadidiatou Diani. This opened the scoring in the 15th minute. The goals keep coming. The Blues dominate Morocco until the end of the first half (3-0). Back from the locker room, the magic of the Atlas Lionesses did not work. France increases the score in the 71st minute of play. The match ends 4-0. Hervé Renard’s protégées thus join Australia in the quarter-finals at the end of an emotional match.

Among the parents or friends present at the Coopers Stadium in Adelaide, Youssra, the younger sister, and two friends of Sakina Karchaoui, all three wearing a jersey with the name of the French defender of Moroccan origin. "It was a lot of emotions," Youssra summarizes to Le Parisien, somewhat intimidated. "We always have a choice of heart (between France and Morocco), but we remain pro and behind our sister. She gave it her all and she was right. On a personal level, everything is fine. We wish her the best for the rest of the competition." The PSG player, born in Salon-de-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), remained focused on her goal: to win the match.

"I don’t externalize emotions too much so it was easy to manage," she assures in the corridors of the small Hindmarsh Stadium. "There were a lot of them. And it always does something to hear the Moroccan national anthem... But today, we win, that’s the goal and that’s all that matters." She thus contributed to the elimination of the country of origin of her parents and that of friends, like the opposing attacking midfielder Anissa Lahmari. Karchaoui will nevertheless be able to count on the two French and Moroccan peoples during the confrontation between the Blues and the Socceroos on Saturday.