It was a day that had almost everything: a record 11-goal win for France, four in the same game from Liana Joseph, a pair of Brazilian wonder-goals, disciplinary records needed to split Mexico and Cameroon and a rare Linda Caicedo penalty miss.
France overturning a 12-goal differential, courtesy of a 95th minute penalty, to pip Canada to second spot in Group B is a match that will live long in the memory on an evening when that pair were joined in the second round party by debutants Cameroon and Mexico.
Colombia completed a near flawless group stage as they won a third straight match although it’s the end of the road for Australia and Fiji with that pair becoming the first nations to exit the tournament.
One after another the records fell; France becoming the first nation to hit ten goals in a match, then the first to reach 11. The highest scoring single match mark also fell by the wayside and Liana Joseph became just the fifth woman to score four or more in a single game.
It was an extraordinary evening as the French overturned a 12-goal differential to squeeze past Canada in the 95th minute with six different players joining the scoring party.
Five up at the break, half-time substitute Dona Scannapieco grabbed a nine-minute brace as the flummoxed Fijian defence could do little to stem the relentless French attack; Melinda Mendy completing a remarkable showing with a late penalty.
Key stats
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This was both the biggest win and the highest scoring match in the history of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
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Liana Joseph became just the fifth woman to score four or more goals in a single match at the tournament.
What they said….
“Without a doubt, we are aiming to improve each game, to connect the players more and more within our game model, of our way of playing, with the variations, so that we make the next steps firm and without the chance of stumbling.” Rosana, Brazil coach
