Alanna Kennedy and Mary Fowler’s Australia secured passage into the 2023 Women’s World Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Denmark.

The City duo started the match at Stadium Australia, with both excellently helping their nation progress into the last-eight of the tournament.

Having rounded off their group stage campaign with a strong 4-0 win over Canada, which sealed their place in the knockout stages, the Matildas’ confidence was high ahead of their meeting with the European team.

And they made a strong start to proceedings before breaking the deadlock on 30 minutes when Fowler whipped an accurate ball behind the Denmark defence into Caitlin Foord’s path who drilled an effort low into the net.

The Arsenal forward was a constant threat for Tony Gustavsson’s side and she almost became the architect of their second shortly after half-time when she collected Emily van Egmond’s cross-field ball and broke down the left, before her cutback was stabbed behind for a corner.

Fowler was at the heart of Australia’s strong attacking play and she played a vital role in the Matildas’ second of the poked the ball through to Van Egmond who teed up Hayley Raso to fire home with 20 minutes remaining.

Kennedy expertly led the backline and helped them seal their third clean sheet of the tournament as they booked their place in the last-four for the first time since 2015.