Germany and United States progress

Germany moved into the World Cup semi-finals thanks to a penalty shootout victory over France in Montreal on Friday. Louisa Necib gave France the lead midway through the second half with a long-range effort, but Celia Sasic equalised for Germany from the penalty spot with six minutes of normal time remaining after Laura Georges was penalised for handball. Gaetane Thiney missed a gilt-edged chance to win the quarter-final tie for France in extra time when she skewed her shot wide of the target despite being unmarked at the far post and just a yard from goal. Her glaring miss proved costly as Claire Lavogez missed the deciding penalty as Germany won the shootout 5-4 to book a semi-final encounter against the United States. The Americans sealed their seventh successive World Cup semi-final appearance after captain Carli Lloyd scored the only goal of the game to guide them to a 1-0 victory over China in the second quarter-final of the day.

Source: PA