France wrapped up top spot in FIFA Women’s World Cup Group F, following a convincing 6-3 win over Panama at Sydney Football Stadium.
Panama took the lead barely a minute into the match when Marta Cox curled home a stunning free-kick from 35 yards out.
It prompted tears to flow from the captain’s eyes after scoring her country’s first Women’s World Cup goal.
But France were level in the 21st minute when Maelle Lakrar’s goal-bound header was sliced beyond Yenith Bailey by Deysire Salazar.
Kadidiatou Diani fired over when unmarked moments later but made no mistake in the 28th minute, when her close-range shot crashed in off the crossbar after her initial flick had been blocked.
Diani increased the lead from the penalty spot in the 37th minute following Yomira Pinzon’s handball and France scored a fourth goal in added time.
This was when Lea Le Garrec’s cross from the left eluded everyone and crept inside the far post.
Early in the second half, Diani completed her hat-trick by firing another penalty low into the bottom corner after Vicki Becho’s headed flick-on struck Wendy Natis’ outstretched arm.
Diani’s hat-trick for France was the first-ever in FIFA Women’s World Cup history; the 27th overall in tournament’s history.
Panama pulled a goal back in the 64th minute when Pinzon drilled a penalty into the corner after Elisa De Almeida had barged over Riley Tanner.
Lineth Cedeno scored a third goal for Panama in the 87th minute when she headed home the rebound, after a deep free-kick had bounced back off the crossbar.
But Becho guided home a sixth goal for France in the 10th minute of added time as they set up a last-16 clash with the runners-up from Group H.
Panama’s Tanner told newsmen after the match that scoring the goals and playing with her amazing teammates was so special.
“Definitely, this loss is not the greatest, we have things to learn from this experience and I’m so grateful and so proud of the team.
“It’s something huge, it’s something to be proud of for sure. France is a really good team and it’s pretty special to be on the field with such great players.
“I’m just super proud of how our team battled till the very end. We were never gonna give up.
“Those three goals were very special so I’m just super proud,” she said.
France’s Almeida noted that their main goal was to win and to finish on top, adding that there were a few things that they had to debrief about the game.
“We made a few defensive mistakes, we will have to check that on the video and improve it because the level will rise up.
“However, we could score six goals. France had never scored six goals in a single match in a World Cup,” she said.
France’s Clara Mateo stressed that what mattered most for the team was the victory and the qualification.
She said that they were quite consistent offensively which accounted for the six goals they scored.
“However, we conceded three goals so we will have to check what happened to fix our defensive mistakes.
“We know that in the knock-out stage, it could be fatal so we need to improve the defensive aspect and keep on scoring goals,” she said.
