England's early goals enough to knock Canada out of World Cup
England will now play the defending champions Japan in the semifinals on Wednesday in what will be a first for them: this is the furthest the Lionesses have ever progressed in a Women's World Cup.
The wheels came off for the Maple Leaves in the tenth minute when Lauren Sesselmann inexplicably fell down, knocking the ball to Jodie Taylor about 40 yards from goal. Taylor couldn't believe her luck, and gleefully skipped at Erin McLeod's goal before firing across the helpless keeper to the far post. Sesselmann, who has been a weak link for Canada all tournament long, looked shattered by the mistake and never truly recovered.
But the pain continued: just three minutes later, Sesselmann would needlessly foul Taylor at midfield, allowing Fara Williams a free kick. Lucy Bronze was left all alone, and with Allysha Chapman unable to recover, simply rose up inside the six-yard box and nodded the ball over McLeod, off the crossbar and in.
The Maple Leaves did have their chances, mind you. Christine Sinclair found Melissa Tancredi wide open in the eighth minute with an incisive cross-field pass, but as has been Canada's habit this Cup, they were profligate. Tancredi, who has only Karen Bardsley to beat, blasted her shot into the upper deck. The duo combined again in the 20th minute, this time with Tancredi providing the service, and this time seeing Sinclair shoot wide when it would have been easier to tap the ball into the net.
The Canadian game has always been about hustle; their lack of finesse has been very costly during this tournament. But that hustle paid off late in the first half when Bardsley gifted Sinclair a goal after she failed to hold a shot from Ashley Lawrence. Canada had finally crafted a decent set of passing moves, and Bardsley made a total hash of an eminently savable shot, putting it right onto Sinclair's laces. She couldn't miss that one.
With that goal, Canada had reason to hope, and that hope grew when England's keeper suddenly had to come off early in the second half. Bardsley had to be removed seven minutes into the second half after suffering an injury to her right eye. It was unclear immediately what caused the injury, but Bardsley appeared to be suffering an allergic reaction of some kind. In came Siobhan Chamberlain, a little-used sub making her first World Cup appearance.
That set up a grandstand finish, with both teams sensing blood in the water. McLeod was forced to make a great stop on Taylor in the 55th when the English forward nearly bent the ball in from the far side. But at the other end, England looked in disarray in the back without their regular keeper and started to make clumsy errors. Steph Houghton dallied on the ball and nearly allowed Tancredi to nip in on Chamberlain before Lucy Bronze punted the ball into the stands.
But as the game wore on, the crowd became increasingly nervous. Chamberlain was not seriously tested, even as subs Diana Matheson and Adrian Leon began to camp out on the edges of the box. Canada also always looked vulnerable to the counter, with Taylor a steady threat out wide. Sesselmann, in fact, was forced to play clean-up in front of McLeod with ten to play as Taylor was allowed free range to roam.
Leon counter-punched with seven minutes remaining, going on a mazy ramble that caught England out in the box, but the play ultimately collapsed when Sophie Schmidt could not keep her volley down.
And that would effectively end the match. In the end, the Canadian players were left in tears on the hard Vancouver turf, while the English women were joyous.
