England sets up Japan clash
ENGLAND ended host Canada’s dream at the Women’s World Cup 2-1 on Saturday to advance to its first semifinals at the tournament where it will meet defending champion Japan, a 1-0 winner over Australia.
Early goals from Jodie Taylor and Lucy Bronze dampened the cheers of the capacity 54,027 crowd in BC Place Stadium and kept England on track after losing its opening game of the tournament against France.
England follows on from its first win in a World Cup knockout game against Norway in the last 16. “They’re history makers again, only the third ever English team to get to a semifinal, we join that ‘66 and ‘90 club,” said coach Mark Sampson referring to England’s men.
“The dream’s over, it’s not how we imagined it to end,” said Canadian counterpart John Herdman.
“We hadn’t written the script to be 2-0 down that early. Gutted, gutted for all of Canada.”
Earlier, Japan outplayed a gritty Australia but needed an 87th-minute goal from substitute Mana Iwabuchi in Edmonton to advance.
The champion plays England in Edmonton on Wednesday as former two-time winner Germany and the US also play for a place in the final in Ottawa.
In Vancouver, England was gifted the opener after 11 minutes following a howler by defender Lauren Sesselmann who proved to be the weak link in Canada’s back line.
The 31-year-old Sesselmann miskicked the ball and fell over, allowing Taylor to race towards goal past the onrushing defenders to score. Just three minutes later the hosts were in disarray as Bronze headed in a Fara Williams free kick.
But captain Christine Sinclair pulled one back three minutes before the break following a blunder by Karen Bardsley in the England goal. Ashley Lawrence fired towards the near post, but Bardsley let the ball out of her grasp into the path of Sinclair, Canada’s all time leading goal scorer, who fired in her 155th international goal.
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