Germany and US progress in Women's World Cup

Germany moved into the Women's World Cup semi-finals thanks to a penalty shootout victory over France in Montreal last night.

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.