The inside story of that incredible shootout – as told by the Matildas who won it

Seventeen minutes. The longest shootout in World Cup history — men’s or women’s — to decide the most important football match Australia has ever seen.

The Matildas and France could not be separated after two hours of gripping, back-and-forth football at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, so their quarter-final would be decided by the lottery of penalties. How it went down was simply unbelievable.

A few minutes before the full-time whistle, France coach Herve Renard brought off his starting goalkeeper, Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, for shootout specialist Solene Durand, who was making her major tournament debut. It was a play ripped straight from the book of Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, who famously sent on the ‘Grey Wiggle’ Andrew Redmayne in last year’s World Cup qualifier against Peru.

The Matildas huddled together. Teammates revved each other up.

Here’s how they saw it all unfold, in their own words.

Tony Gustavsson (coach): I think the fact that we’ve seen it in our own house, so to speak – the Socceroos did it, we know that that could be thrown at you, and these players have shown that no matter what curveball is thrown at them, I don’t think it affects them at all. They knew exactly what to do.

Mackenzie Arnold: There’s not much you can say, really. ‘You’ve got this, this is your time.’ The usual cliche stuff.

Ellie Carpenter: I just heard, ‘We’re prepared, we’re ready, we’ve prepped for this. Believe in yourselves. We got this.’

Hayley Raso: I actually got teary before it even started, because I was so nervous. I can’t imagine it was any better out there.

The first kick of the World Cup quarter-final penalty shootout pitted Australian keeper Mackenzie Arnold (top left) against France’s Selma Bacha (top right).Credit: Getty/Reuters

France took the first penalty, and it was a perfect start for Australia: Selma Bacha put it low and to the left, Arnold guessed the right way and made an easy save.

Kevin Keatings, Optus Sport commentator: Almost the entire stadium against Bacha here ... and Arnold saves! It wasn’t the worst penalty you’ve ever seen, but those long levers got there for Mackenzie Arnold.

Australia’s first penalty was converted by Caitlin Foord, into the same corner Bacha aimed for. 1-0 to the Matildas.

Caitlin Foord: Surprisingly, I was very calm. I felt very confident. I didn’t picture myself to be feeling that way — but I guess it just shows how prepared we are, and the work we’ve done to get to that moment. We’ve practised, we’ve done it. I’ve done it countless times and I just knew to step up and be confident. If you believe in yourself and you hit it good enough, it’s always gonna go in.

Kadidiatou Diani stepped up next for France — and scored. That made it 1-1, with vice-captain Steph Catley, who tucked away two confident penalties against Ireland and Canada, Australia’s next taker.

Keatings: Already scored from the spot at this competition ... Oh, brilliant save from Durand! Great athleticism. Catley denied!

A dejected Steph Catley.Credit: Getty

Catley: It’s one of those things. I’ve taken a couple this tournament and sort of was in my head [thinking] a little bit about, ‘do I change, or go the same way’? When your legs are heavy like that, you try and make the right decision, and she saved it. I didn’t hit it as well as I could have. It sucks that I missed, but the ultimate thing in the penalty is whether your team comes out on top or not.

The next four penalties all went in: Wendie Renard and Eugenie Le Sommer for France, Sam Kerr and Mary Fowler for Australia. 3-3.

Sam Kerr: I can’t remember Caitlin’s or Steph’s because I was just focusing and staring at the goal for mine. The only pen I was thinking about when I stepped up is the last World Cup when I missed. It went away from my routine and what I normally did, so this time it was all about self-belief and just putting it where I normally do. It was all about routine, about focus, and sticking to my plan.

Mary Fowler: I don’t remember. I mean, I don’t know. I just feel like I felt prepared for mine and I felt like everyone else felt prepared, and so you just act like it’s training. That’s how I did it. I just felt like it was training — 49,000 people watching training.

Kerr: Mary Fowler is not even a child. She’s one of the most amazing players in our team. She’s 20 years old, and she has a head on her like she’s 30 and been around the game for a hundred years.

Mackenzie Arnold saves the fifth penalty from Eve Perisset.Credit: Getty Images

That brought each team to their fifth penalty —the last before it goes into sudden-death. Eve Perisset was subbed in with Durand in the 120th minute, specifically to take one.

David Basheer, Seven commentator: Big moment this ... and it’s against the upright, I think it’s with a touch along the way from Mackenzie Arnold! Australia on the brink!

Arnold shocks everyone by grabbing the ball and marching to the spot. It’s 3-3, Australia can win with the next penalty, and she’s the one who’ll take it.

Keatings: It’s a few small steps from Mackenzie Arnold — potentially a giant leap into the history books for the Matildas. If she scores they’re into a semi-final ... oh no! A wonderful relief for Les Bleues as it rattles the post!

Amy Chapman, former Matilda, Optus Sport commentator: I feel a bit sick, to be honest.

Arnold: I picked a spot. Unfortunately, I sliced it a little bit, but the girls kept me in it, so I’m glad I could still do my job.

Mackenzie Arnold after missing her own penalty.Credit: Getty

The next six penalties are all converted. Arnold protests to the referee about Grace Geyoro’s stuttered run-up but is waved away. Katrina Gorry hits it low and to the left — Durand gets a hand to it but can’t stop it. Sakina Karchaoui’s goes in off the underside of the bar. Tameka Yallop and Maelle Lakrar both go to the right. Ellie Carpenter slams hers in via the left upright and then revs up the crowd. 6-6.

Will this ever end?

Katrina Gorry: Every day, every session. We take 10 minutes [to work on penalties] — we practise, we practise and we practise. So we were ready for tonight. I just wanted to keep calm and do what I practised, and believe that I could take the shot and get the ball in the back of the net. I felt like if I had enough power it was gonna go in.

Catley: It felt like it went for about an hour.

Chapman: I still feel sick.

Emily van Egmond: The girls that took the penalties, I’m so proud of every single one of them to step up. To put the hand up to want to take one, that’s not easy.

Raso: To go into a penalty shootout, you really need the crowd behind you. Getting psyched up after Macca’s saves, getting in the other team’s head a little bit; the crowd is hugely important for us.

Australia’s Mackenzie Arnold saves one of the penalty kicks taken by France’s Kenza Dali in the World Cup quarter-final.Credit: Reuters

Kenza Dali used to play with Arnold at West Ham United. Now she finds herself going head-to-head with her old teammate, who she used to practise spot kicks with every day.

Basheer: To maintain the advantage for France ... what a save! That’s enormous! Spine-tingling from Mackenzie Arnold! But it’ll be checked ... the referee in communication with the VAR room. Remember, you need to have a foot on the line at the time of impact of the ball — and there’s that much technology, they can tell.

After Arnold’s save, Dali immediately falls to her knees, her head in her hands — but referee Maria Carvajal announces that Arnold was found to have come off her line too early, so it’ll be taken again. A massive reprieve for France. Can Dali seize this second chance?

Keatings: This won’t be an easy retake for Dali. My goodness, she’s happy she has the opportunity ... and Arnold saves again! It looks legitimate! She was always guessing that way.

Clare Polkinghorne: We knew she was going to pull something out. You wouldn’t want anyone else in there.

‘It was like it was written in the stars, when Macca walks up. She saves one, and then it’s meant to be – that’s how you feel.’

Tony Gustavsson

Arnold: It’s a little bit of a mind game to be honest, whether she’s going to go the same way or change it up. I backed myself and thankfully I got the save again.

Kenza Dali: My penalty [was] very badly taken. I thought to myself, ‘She’s going to think that I’m going to change.’ So I didn’t change — I should have. I take responsibility. I didn’t want to shoot it because she knows me by heart. I worked with her on free kicks, shooting tactics. She was the first to advise me on penalties.

Kerr: She saves all our pens at training and gives us no confidence, so I am glad she has some saves against the other team today.

Foord: She’s absolutely incredible. We’ve seen her do that so many times, and for her to just have that moment and be able to show the rest of Australia what we’ve seen a lot of, I’m just super happy for her and proud of her.

Clare Hunt, who only made her international debut in February, now has the opportunity to win it for Australia.

Gustavsson: It was almost like it was written in the stars, when Macca walks up to take that fifth one. She saves one, and then it’s meant to be kind of thing — that’s how you feel. And then she hits the post. And then you go, OK, maybe it wasn’t meant, and then you go through all those emotions, and then Clare Hunt comes up, and [you] say maybe it’s the World Cup debutante — maybe it’s her turn, maybe that’s what written in the stars, or maybe that’s what meant to be?

French goalkeeper Solene Durand blocks Clare Hunt’s penalty attempt.Credit: Reuters

Hunt’s effort is on target, but it’s batted away — a truly fantastic, one-handed save by Durand to keep France in it.

Keatings: I simply do not believe that. Astonishing.

Kerr: One of my coaches once said, it only takes big players to step up and take a pen. So even Clare Hunt ... I could talk about her for a million years. It feels like she’s been here for so long and I think that’s like her eighth cap.

It’s still 6-6. Vicky Becho, a second-half substitute for France, the youngest player in their squad and their 10th penalty-taker, steps up. The 19-year-old sends Arnold the wrong way, but ...

Basheer: Huge responsibility on her shoulders — and she sends it wide off the upright! Australia will get a second chance. No save required from Mackenzie Arnold.

The crowd of almost 50,000 people at Suncorp Stadium goes ballistic. Gustavsson gestures from the bench for his players to remain calm. The third chance to win the shootout for Australia now falls to Cortnee Vine, who came on for Raso in the first half of extra time.

Cortnee Vine: All the girls were just like, whose turn is it? And I was like, ‘It’s my turn.’ And they were like, ‘You’ve got this!’

Chapman: Can she do it? Can she grab this game? Can she grab the Matildas’ future?

Cortnee Vine takes the decisive penalty for Australia.Credit: Getty

Raso: I had all confidence in her. I thought, ‘This is her moment. She’s gonna bury it.’ We’d been going back and forth for a while, so I was like, ‘Just finish the game for us, please.’

Arnold: I was saying, ‘Please get it in.’ I was so done with it — but I couldn’t say too much because I lost mine as well. I was just praying that she got it in, and I was honestly so proud of her and the way she stepped up, being so young as well.

Vine: I just knew where I was gonna put my pen. I feel like in those moments, you just need to be confident in what you’ve practised. Macca did the job before I had to — she’s the one that saved it, and I just had to put it away.

Vine has a look of steely determination in her eyes. Gustavsson links arms with his assistants. The nation holds its breath. She takes a couple of steps, taps her shot gently to Durand’s right, and the ball rolls under her.

Vine runs to her teammates. Australia explodes with joy.

Keating: Cue the party! Wild scenes in Brisbane/Meaanjin!

Vine: I couldn’t hear [the crowd] when I was walking and putting it down. Afterwards? Obviously, it was insane. Everyone jumped on me first. I was shaking my head — I thought I was in a whirlwind. I didn’t know what was going on. And then I was like, ‘What just happened?’ I had a lot of people come up and say, ‘You did it, we’re so proud of you!’ There were a few swear words in there.

Cortnee VIne (right) leaps on her teammates to celebrate.Credit: Reuters

Carpenter: When we scored that last pen, I just cried. I didn’t know what to feel.

Gorry: The belief in ourselves that we could get through the pens and we could win … I think you could see it, standing together as a group. We never let go of each other. The bench were together. We just had to believe in ourselves.

Kerr: I hate pens. I wish there was golden goal or something because I just think it’s such a bad way for anyone to lose. Obviously we’ve been on the winning side tonight, but it’s just a rollercoaster and that’s just what pens are: it’s a rollercoaster from start to finish. Cortnee Vine to step up in that pressure ... I mean, they’re all amazing.

Catley: It does sum up where we are as a team. We just believe, and we keep fighting no matter what happens — whether it’s VAR retake penalty, misses, goals, saves. Whatever it is, we never stop believing that we’re going to win. I’m so proud to be part of this team. What we’ve done is incredible. And I think we should take a minute to enjoy it and revel in it a bit. We’re in the semi-final of a World Cup.

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