The USA will be England’s opponents in the first semi-final on Tuesday evening, after a Megan Rapinoe brace was enough to eliminate France who replied once through Wendie Renard.
A frantic, end to end game played in front of a 45,595 crowd saw Rapinoe take just 5 minutes to open the scoring with a free-kick from wide left that went through a crowd of players and into the net.
Sarah Bouhaddi made a double save to deny Sam Mewis and Tobin Heath but the lead was doubled on 65 minutes as Alex Morgan threading a pass through for Tobin Heath to square to Rapinoe who made no mistake.
While Crystal Dunn did much to frustrate Les Bleues, they got back in the game in the last 10 minutes as Wendie Renard headed home from a set-piece.
A late scare for the USA came when Amel Majri’s cross hit Kelley O’Hara on the arm inside the area but a penalty was not given.
The elimination of France means that England are one of the top three European teams at the tournament and that Team GB therefore qualify for the Olympics in Japan next summer.
