Jamaica send Marta's Brazil crashing out of Women's World Cup

Jamaica ensured there would be no fairytale ending to Marta's World Cup career as they held Brazil to a 0-0 draw to reach the last 16 on Wednesday and condemn the South Americans to their earliest exit since 1995.

It was heartbreak for the legendary Brazilian attacker Marta, who at age 37 has said this would be her sixth but last World Cup. She was in tears at the end.

But it was joy in Melbourne for a Jamaica team who are yet to concede at the tournament and are into the knockout rounds for the first time in their history.

Lorne Donaldson's unbeaten side, who have defied rows with their federation to get this far, will most likely meet Colombia next after finishing second in the group behind France.

"This is one of the best days I've ever had in my life," Donaldson said.

"To see a country like Jamaica be able to do this, it's unbelievable. The girls are doing it for the country, the country should be proud.

"We had resilience, fight. We are going into a war and we need to be ready," he added.

"And it was a war, and we stayed in the battle."

Brazil's Marta with Jamaica's Vyan Sampson after the match. Reuters

Brazil had to win to be sure of going through, whereas Jamaica needed only to draw. So it was little surprise that it was the South Americans who had the better of an attritional contest.

In front of a crowd of nearly 28,000, Brazil had much more of the ball and attempts at goal - Jamaica had none on target all game to Brazil's five.

But for all that and with Marta starting, Jamaica were never really in serious trouble at any point in the game.

Meanwhile, Kadidiatou Diani scored a hat trick as France advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup after a 6-3 win over Panama.

The world's No5-ranked team recovered