- That's all from our side. Thanks for tuning in, and see you around for Germany vs Sweden later today.
FULL TIME: ITALY 0-2 NETHERLANDS - The Dutch are off to the semifinal for the first time as history is made at Valenciennes. Second half headers from Miedema and Van der Gragt ensured Netherlands got the better of Italy, and set up a last-four clash against the winner of Germany vs Sweden. With the win, Netherlands has also qualified for its first-ever Olympic games!
87' The other goal scorer, Miedema, is also coming off and Roord comes on to replace her.
STAT: Eight of Netherlands' 10 goals at the World Cup this year have been scored in the second half.
83' GREAT SAVE BY VAN VEENENDAAL! Sabatino gets past her defender and has a go from a tight angle on the right of the box. The goalkeeper is quickly off her line and throws up an arm just in time to deny the striker.
80' GOAL! ITALY 0-2 NETHERLANDS. Stefanie van der Gragt scores. It's another free-kick that catches Italy out and Spitse puts a good delivery into the box. Van der Gragt rises highest in the crowd at the far post and fires her header over Giuliani and into the back of the net. There was no stopping that powerful header!
73' Cernoia is the latest player to be booked after a bad foul on Beerensteyn and if Italy makes it through to the next round, she'll miss the semifinal as this is her second yellow card of the tournament.
70' GOAL! ITALY 0-1 NETHERLANDS. Vivianne Miedema scores! Spitse takes the freekick and her delivery is picked out by Miedema, who heads it towards the top right corner. This is Miedema's third goal of the tournament.
68' Guagni is shown a yellow card after she brings down substitute Beerensteyn outside the penalty box, on the right side. Spitse takes the freekick, which is poorly delivered as it misses all the four players inside the box.
64' CLOSE! The Oranje have a freekick and Spitse steps up for it. The Italian wall has three players, but Spitse is smart and keeps her shot low. It finds the gap through and travels towards the bottom left corner before taking a curve, which keeps it wide.
59' OFF THE WOODWORK! Netherlands gets its first corner of the match, and as the ball is headed away, it falls into the path of Van de Donk. She shoots from distance- her shot is taken well and has the required power, but the curled effort unfortunately hits the crossbar. On the rebound, Bloodworth takes a shot but it is off target.
55' Van de Sanden, who was earlier involved in the buildup for an attack, has made way for Beerensteyn, who has scored the winner against Canada in the group stage.
54' The second half has seen more the Dutch threat with the Oranje coming close to the goal on more than two occasions since the break. Meanwhile, Italy makes a change as Bonansea comes off for Sabatino.
51' CHANCE! Miedema misses yet another chance as a cross is played for her inside the box by Van Lunteren puts a brilliant, which Gama can't clear. Miedema is behind her and is just inches away from tapping the ball into the net, but she couldn't make contact with it.
48' Martens tries to walk some way through the left wing but sends the ball to her midfield. Spitse takes a shot from distance but Linari heads it away. Later, Van de Sanden's lobbed ball finds Miedema at the edge of the box, but the youngster heads it wide.
46' Second half kicks off.
HALF TIME Both sides will be reasonably satisfied for ending the half without conceding but the Dutch, early on, should've scored a couple. They dominated possession but the final ball was missing. Italy came into the game after the fifteen minute mark and have had the better chances to take the lead. The heat has seen the game slow down as the game went on and it'll be interesting to see how either side start the second half.
45' + 2' Both teams seem happy to get to the break without conceding. The possession has been exchanged in the midfield continuously but hasn't moved to either end.
45' Five minutes of added time, most of it coming from the cooling break.
42' Spitse takes the freekick but her low shot is straight down Giuliani's throat.
42' YELLOW CARD. Miedema gets pulled down right outside the box and Linari picks up the booking. That mean all of Italy's back four are a caution away from missing the semifinals, if Italy wins today.
POSSESSION: Italy 39%, Netherlands 61%
38' And at the other end Martens gets a shot away. This one is on target but there's no power in the shot and Guiliani gathers.
37' Bergamaschi finds Giacinti inside a crowded Dutch box but her shot goes inches wide of the far post!
35' Match restarts. van de Sanden attacks. Linari blocks. Normal service resumes.
31' The Dutch fans have started belting out 'We will rock you', but using just trumpets. And drums. That was....interesting.
30' The ball rolls out of play as van de Sanden can't get the ball under control. With that, the referee blows the whistle for a much needed water break. Cooling break rather, as it is officially called.
29' It's Miedema's turn to shoot and she gets her shot on target. Comfortably saved but she at elast worked the keeper.
28' Cernoia's cross from the left almost finds Giacinti! Van Veenendaal comes out and gathers it. Had a little too much height on that cross for Giacinti.
27' van de Sanden's lob finds van de Donk in the box. She fakes her marker and but her shot finds an Italian body and deflects away.
23' Nothing comes from the cross but the Italians have grown in confidence slowly.
22' The drums and trumpets have died down as Italy get another freekick. It is cleared out for a corner, the first of the match.
20' ANOTHER CHANCE! Bergamaschi runs into the box but her shot is tame and it rolls towards the keeper.
18'MISS! Bergamaschi made a beautiful run into the box. Bonansea touched it into her path but, with just the keeper to beat, she tries to go for the lob and the keeper easily collects it. First big chance of the game and it went to the Italians! Surprise surprise.
16' The game has settled down a bit now. Possession the last two minutes has been evened out, with the Dutch not pressing as much as they did in the opening minutes.
14' Guagni gets her foot in and stop van de Sanden from running into the box. Not for the first time. She has been the most worked Italian so far, understandably.
11' van de Sanden on the right again. Her cross for Martens is blocked but the Dutch gain possession immediately.
8' The Dutch women have controlled the game so far. Swift passes, attacking from both wings and possession recycled. Italians have been forced to play with their backs to the goal.
7' van de Sanden tries to fake a touch to get past her marker but loses the ball and the Italians have the ball near the Dutch box for the first time today. A tame shot into the crowd sees that move end swiftly.
5' van de Sanden is everywhere! She releases Van Lunteren but the right-back's pass is well gathered by Giuliani.
3' van de Sanden is on the right wing now and she past her marker. Instead of letting it go out of play, she gets in a low cross that's cleared by the first defender.
2' The Dutch fans love it! Huge cheers and there are drums going off across the stadium. And some trumpets too?!
1' The Dutch on the attack right away. van de Sanden gets the back into the box from the left flank but it is well cleared.
— KICKOFF!
— By the end of the day, Italy or the Netherlands will progress to the Women's World Cup semifinals for the first time. We'll be witnessing history, either way.
— It is a sea of orange across the stands. The Dutch fans are everywhere and in full voice too! They join their team in singing the anthem and you'll be forgiven for thinking the game is happening in Netherlands. Brilliant support and atmosphere. We're in for a cracking match, aren't we?
— Teams are in the tunnel, waiting to come out. Which means, we are less than ten minutes away from kickoff.
— Today's officials
Referee: Claudia Umpierrez (Uruguay)
Assistant Referee 1: Luciana Mascarana (Uruguay)
Assistant Referee 2: Monica Amboya (Ecuador)
Fourth Official: Qin Liang (China)
— Fun facts:
ITALY: Coach Bertolini is one of only two women to hold the licence required to coach teams in the men's version of Italy's Serie A. The other is Carolina Morace.
NETHERLANDS: The number of goals scored in qualifying by Vivanne Miedema and Sherida Spitze, the two leading scorers in a team that struck a total of 22 goals in the preliminaries, an indication of the danger they pose as a unit.
— Players are out warming up but given the heat wave across France, and all of Europe, they won't have to do much.
— MATCH PREVIEW
A harsh penalty call going in its favour at the 90th minute is what gifted Netherlands the chance to progress to the last-eight after Japan was knocked out despite putting up a fight against the 2017 Euro champion.
The Oranje will now be up against Italy, which enjoyed a comfortable win against China, registering its first-ever World Cup knockout stage win.
Italy and Netherlands have faced each other in 15 matches with the Italians dominating their meetings. Le Azzurre have seven wins to Oranje's three, in addition to five draws including the teams’ first meeting in 1978, which ended 1-1.
However, Netherlands is unbeaten against Italy since 2007, having earned three victories and two draws in the last five encounters. The Italians’ last success was a 2-0 win dating back to 2005.
At France this year, Netherlands has had several names on the scoresheet- from Vivianne Miedema, Lineeth Beerensteyn to Jill Roord and others. However, Barcelona attacker Lieke Martens remains a threat to any opposition.
Martens, who struck twice in Netherlands' knockout victory, however, is doubtful to play against Italy. While celebrating the late match-winning goal against Japan, Martens hurt her foot as Roord jumped on it. Following that, Martens sat out training on Friday for a second successive day, owing to the pain. The doubtful inclusion of the 26-year-old is a concern for the Netherlands attack.
Italy also faces a similar situation with its experienced striker Cristiana Girelli injured too. Being substituted early on against China after suffering from a combination of injury and heat stroke, Girelli's availability remains uncertain.
Much will thus be expected from youngster Aurora Galli, who is also Girelli's teammate at Juventus. Galli sealed Italy's berth in the quarterfinal with her strike against China, which was her third goal of the tournament - all of the three strikes being netted after coming off the bench. An impactful substitute, Galli could be replaced as the striker if Girelli doesn't recover in time.
The winner of this match will fight the winner of Germany vs Sweden in the semifinal on July 3 at Parc Olympique Lyonnais.
— This is the Netherlands' second Women's World Cup appearance. In its earlier appearance (Canada 2015), it found its way to the round-of-16 where it lost to the then defending world champion Japan (which eventually finished as the runner-up).
— Italy's is playing in the to FIFA Women's World Cup after a 20-year absence, making its third appearance. Its best result so far? A quarterfinal appearance in the inaugural edition (China PR 1991), where they lost to eventual runner-up Norway.
Its only other appearance was in 1009, where it finished third in its group after losing to Brazil, drawing with Germany and beating Mexico.
— Lieke Martens hurt herself while celebrating her late winner against Japan but, after sitting put for two days, she has recovered and makes the starting XI.
For Italy, Girelli also shakes off her injury but only makes the bench. She was substituted before halftime against China owing to the injury and a heatstroke. Galli makes the XI in her place. Interestingly, Galli came off the bench three time in the World Cup so far and managed to get a goal on each occassion.
— TEAM NEWS!
Italy: Giuliani, Guagni, Gama, Linari, Bartoli, Bergamaschi, Galli, Giugliano, Cernoia, Giacinti, Bonansea.
Substitutes: Marchitelli, Rosucci, Parisi, Sabatino, Girelli, Tarenzi, Serturini, Fusetti, Boattin, Mauro, Tucceri, Pipitone.
Netherlands: Van Veenendaal, Van Lunteren, van der Gragt, Bloodworth, van Dongen, Groenen, van de Donk, Spitse, van de Sanden, Miedema, Martens.
Substitutes: Kop, Van Es, Dekker, Pelova, Renate Jansen, Kaagman, Ellen Jansen, Kerkdijk, Roord, Beerensteyn, van der Most, Geurts.
— Italy and Netherlands have faced each other in 15 matches with the Italians dominating their meetings. However, Netherlands is unbeaten against Italy since 2007, having earned three victories and two draws in the last five encounters. The Stade du Hainaut in Valenciennes is the venue today.
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