What a knuckle whitening finish as an increasingly desperate Canada tried to defy history but came up short. England were just a bit more ruthless when it came to taking their opportunities and self assured defending a lead which they took into the second half. All against the run of play as Canada were about as dominant as one could expect in the first half. The byline transformed when a horrendous slip by Lauren Sesselman in the 11th minute gifted Jodie Taylor the ball and the Portland Thorns striker ran to the edge of the box dispatching an angular strike eluding Erin McLeod, Canada’s ne’er say die goalie.
More woe for Mother Canada, three minutes later as Lucy Bronze, as firm a candidate for young player of the tournament, once again came up with the winning goal with her header in the 14th minute. Bronze is becoming golden for England, first sinking Norway and now hosts Canada. The Manchester City full back is having the World Cup of her life. However, Canada came roaring back just before the half as Karen Bardsley spilled Melissa Tancredi’s cross and Christine Sinclair, sharpshooter extraordinaire, the Filippo Inzaghi of the women’s game was at hand to bring the 52,000 plus crowd roaring to their feet with her clinical finish. Game on.
England’s introduction to the second half soon ran into trouble as Karen Bardsley unsighted by a swelling right eye had to be subbed off for Arsenal’s Siobhan Chamberlain, a back up but by the same token, a three time World Cup squaddie who had not seen a single playing minute. The mood was Canada clearly in the ascendancy as conventional wisdom would be to test Chamberlain’s inexperience. England were able to keep them at bay as Bronze, Steph Houghton, Katie Chapman, and Alex Scott made a nuisance of themselves.
The die has been cast: It’s Japan vs England in the semi-finals.