Australia reach World Cup quarter-finals as Kerr makes comeback

The co-hosts will play France or Morocco on Saturday in Brisbane in the last eight after making fairly light work of a toothless Denmark.

Sam Kerr came off the bench as Australia surged into the Women’s World Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Denmark in front of nearly 76,000 fans in Sydney on Monday.

The co-hosts will play France or Morocco on Saturday in Brisbane in the last eight after making fairly light work of a toothless Denmark.

To cap a good night’s work for the Matildas, talismanic striker and captain Kerr came on with 10 minutes left to huge cheers for her first action of the tournament after a calf injury.

The dangerous Caitlin Foord terrorised Denmark throughout and scored a fine first after being set up by Mary Fowler on 29 minutes.

Hayley Raso grabbed a second to make the game safe 20 minutes from time.

Denmark were contesting their first knockout game at the World Cup since 1995 and they had the first sniff of goal, but Rikke Madsen just failed to connect with the ball while sliding in at goal.

The Danes, ranked 13th in the world to Australia’s 10, could have taken the lead on the quarter-hour at Stadium Australia but Pernille Harder shot straight at goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold.