Although the Matildas defeated Les Bleues in their last friendly before the FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup, their path to the semi-final hinges on successfully stopping France’s deadly sniper up front, Eugénie Le Sommer.

On Saturday 12 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia and France are set to clash for a place in the semi-final of the 9^th edition of the World Cup where they will be meeting the winner of either England or Colombia.

In the Round of 16, Australia secured an easy 2-0 win against Denmark in front of 75,784 fans at Stadium Australia while France cruised past Morocco 4-0.

The highlight in Australia's win against Denmark was the return of their superstar Sam Kerr. The Chelsea forward finally recovered from a calf injury that forced her to miss the start of the tournament.

It is still uncertain whether Kerr will start against France but Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson seemed confident in the press conference earlier today. “If Kerr's fit for 90, she's starting. We're talking about Sam Kerr here,” before adding, “whether she is ready to play 90 minutes plus extra time, that's to be decided tonight.”

France introduces itself as one of the tournament favorites.

Following the elimination of Canada, Brazil, Germany, the U.S., Japan, and the Netherlands now, Hervé Renard and his players are confident that this could potentially be their year.

Thus far in the tournament they have netted a total of 12 goals, with Olympique Lyonnais’ new signing Kadidiatou Diani scoring 4 of these and assisting 3 more.

France knows they will be facing the crowd’s pressure but the players seem to be well prepared for the challenge. “This is why you play World Cups,” Paris Saint Germain’s midfielder Grace Geyoro told ESPN. “Facing the hosts [co-hosts with New Zealand] in front of 50,000 fans for a place in the World Cup's semifinal? It doesn't get much bigger than that."

In the pre-match press conference, Eugénie Le Sommer, France's all-time top scorer standing at 92 goals considered this match as “one of France’s most important matches in history”.

The prolific striker who made her comeback to the French squad after Corinne Diacre’s resignation was asked about their defeat to Australia a month earlier. “The advantage of having played against them already is that we know exactly what to expect. We are ready and there will be no surprises. They play with intensity and we will have to impose our game.”

France has long been suffering on the international stage and they will be hoping to change that. In the last two World Cups in 2015 and 2019, they were knocked out at quarter final stage.

Hervé Renard has the full squad at his disposal. Selma Bacha and Maëlle Lakrar both took part in the team’s recent training sessions normally.

France Predicted XI (4-4-2): Peyraud Magnin; Perisset, Renard, de Almeida Karchaoui; Dali, Geyoro, Toletti, Bacha; Le Sommer, Diani.

Tony Gustavsson’s squad is also complete and injuries-free. Sam Kerr might feature in the Matildas squad as a starter for the first time this World Cup.

Australia Predicted XI (4-4-2): Arnold; Carpenter, Hunt, Kennedy, Catley; Raso, Cooney-Cross, Gorry, Foord; Fowler, Kerr.