Excuse my French! Matilda’s secret weapon ready to expose former French teammates after racing the clock to even play in the World Cup after a shocking ACL tear

Few people know France better than Ellie Carpenter.

The Matildas right-back has played for French powerhouse Lyon for the past three years, collecting numerous trophies along the way.

The 23-year-old will try to send home five teammates, plus Lyon’s incoming striker Kadidiatou Diani, in the quarter-final of the Women’s World Cup at Suncorp Stadium.

“Tomorrow, I think, is extra special to me,” Carpenter told reporters during Friday’s pre-game press conference, answering a question in French, without the help of a translator, before responding in English.

“Of course it’s a quarter-final, but playing against half my teammates gives me a little more insight and I know the players very well of course.

“Tomorrow will be a great game, a great battle, especially on the right for me, on the left for France. They are dominant on that side, world class players.

“I am really looking forward to the fight, especially against Selma (Bacha). She’s a great player, I train with her every day and I can’t wait.’

Diani and Eugenie Le Sommer scored four and three goals respectively and will give Carpenter and her fellow defenders headaches.

“They’ve obviously been playing great over the past few games,” said Carpenter.

“Diani is in great form, obviously with her goals and assists, obviously also Eugenie and Selma on the left, they are in great shape.

“But for us it’s about sticking to our game plan. We know the work we have to do tomorrow, myself and the backline and basically the whole team.

France will be confident tomorrow. But I also think in the back of my mind that they will feel the pressure.

‘They went out in-house in the quarter-finals of the last World Cup. So they will want to do one better. I don’t think they’ll underestimate us.’

However, Carpenter’s memories of playing at Lyon will be bittersweet, after she went out in the 2022 Champions League final against Barcelona with an ACL tear that cast doubt on her World Cup ambitions.

That made Matilda’s victory over Denmark challenging for the defender, who had to console former Lyon team-mate Signe Bruun after the game.

Now she faces the prospect of sending many more former teammates off after they were hugely supportive of her at the time.

As a result of the injury, Carpenter raced against time to even play at the World Cup and came in with very little football under her belt.

But she was determined to return for the showpiece in Australia and New Zealand, splitting her rehabilitation time between home and Europe to give herself the best chance of taking her place in the Matildas line-up.

“Obviously it’s going to be very emotional to walk out to a hopefully sold-out crowd and sing the national anthem in front of family and friends,” Carpenter said at the time.

“It’s going to be great to have it in our backyard at home.”

The French, for their part, are eager to take on Carpenter.

“She’s my teammate in Lyon, in my club, I know her well, I’ve known her for a few years now,” Le Sommer told reporters through a translator.

‘We have a good time together, she’s a good girl. She is always smiling, she has a very good mood – she is also a little crazy.

“On the field she is a player who runs a lot, she brings a lot of intensity to the game, she goes fast, she likes tackling and she likes to move forward.

“She is a player who can do both things: she can defend and she can attack very well. She is a modern defensive player.

“Even though she is young, she already has a very good experience at the highest level. She is one of the best players in her team and position.’