Ellie Carpenter & Tony Gustavsson | Pre-Match Press Conference | Australia v France | FIFA Women's World Cup™

Australia takes on France in their Quarter-Finals clash on Saturday, 12 August (5:00 pm AEST), with both teams fighting for a place in the semi-finals. 

Head Coach Tony Gustavsson and defender Ellie Carpenter were available to the media during a Pre-Match Press Conference following Australia's final training session in Brisbane.

Defender Ellie Carpenter will be all too familiar with Australia's next opponents, playing alongside a number of the team at Lyon, talking about the pressure of the occasion.

"I love the pressure and I think we love the pressure. We turn that into 'Look around — all these people in this stadium are cheering for us'," she said.

"It's no pressure at all. It's a privilege, and I wouldn't want to be doing anything other than playing that game tomorrow. This is why we play football. It's for these games."

"We don't take it on as pressure. We take it as such a privilege to be able to play at home in front of 50,000, 70,000, and 30,000-odd people watching us, cheering us on and that only helps us."

Head coach Tony Gustavsson was asked about player availability heading into the quarter-final clash after fans got to see Sam Kerr for the first time on Monday night in Australia's Round of 16 win over Denmark. 

"I want to be very clear in here now to say if Sam is fit to play 90 minutes, she is starting. There's not even a question and the team knows it.

"Whether she is ready to play 90 minutes plus extra time, that's to be decided tonight. But there is no question whatsoever that if she is, she is starting."

FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ - Quarter-finals

Australia v France
Date: Saturday, 12 August 2023
Venue: Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
Kick-Off: 5:00 pm (AEST)
Broadcast: Optus Sport and Channel 7  
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