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France books date with Matildas after 4-0 demolition of Morocco

France will meet Australia in the Women's World Cup quarter-final after easily beating Morocco 4-0.

France will meet Australia in the Women's World Cup quarter-final after easily beating Morocco 4-0. Photo: AAP

The Matildas will meet France in the quarter-finals of the Women’s World Cup after Les Bleues smashed Morocco 4-0 at Adelaide’s Hindmarsh Stadium.

France dominated from start to finish in the round-of-16 clash on Tuesday, scoring three times in eight minutes in a stunning first-half blitz.

The French are now anticipating a hostile reception in Brisbane on Saturday when they face off in a knockout clash against Australia.

France midfielder Kenza Dali said each time France have stepped out onto the park it has felt like an away match – the perfect preparation for squaring off against the Matildas on home soil in a knockout World Cup fixture.

“The crowd is going to be against us,” Dali said.

“I feel like this World Cup everywhere we played the crowd was against us and at the moment it’s good (preparation) for us, so it’s up to us to handle the pressure (against Australia).”

Dali, who scored France’s second goal in the near-flawless performance against Morocco, kept a close eye on Australia’s 2-0 Round of 16 victory over Denmark on Monday.

The 32-year-old praised the Matildas and singled out Caitlin Foord who was instrumental in Australia’s win.

Dali also cautioned about reading too much into the pre-tournament friendly encounter between the two sides where the Matildas defeated France 1-0.

“When we played this game, we were still in preparation, even Australia; it’s going to be a completely different game Saturday night,” she said.

“It (Australia) is a fantastic team and they play with a lot of freedom.

They look like they really enjoyed it and they handled the pressure well.

“They played really good football as well and scored amazing goals. I think Caitlin Foord is the best player at the moment; she has been unbelievable and it’s going to be great.”

Dali is also expecting Sam Kerr to have an impact after the Chelsea attacker played her first minutes of the tournament on Monday when she was introduced off the bench in the 80th minute against Denmark.

Kerr played in the pre-World Cup friendly against Les Bleues but injury on the eve of Australia’s opening group match kept the Matildas’ skipper on the sidelines until the Round of 16.

-AAP

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