England v USA

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England v USA

USA Edge England In Epic Semi

by Jeremy Ruane

Team USA edged England 2-1 in an epic FIFA Women's World Cup semi-final at the Stade de Lyon on July 2, with 53,512 fans enthralled by a clash which featured a missed penalty, a disallowed goal and a sending off, amongst other things.

One of those were some selection dramas, with Fran Kirby and the injured Karen Bardsley overlooked for England, which the USA matched by omitting Sam Mewis and, to everyone's surprise, Megan Rapinoe, who is nursing a hamstring problem.

Her absence didn't greatly impact on the reigning world champions, however, as was proved within ten minutes of the start of play as the USA began brightly, threatening initially in the fourth minute.

Rose Lavelle cleverly nutmegged Millie Bright in the penalty area before side-stepping Demi Stokes and drilling a shot goalwards. Casey Telford parried the effort, with England scrambling the ball away to birthday girl Alex Morgan, who lashed her volley wildly over the crossbar.

The thirty-year-old goalscoring goddess was just inches away from connecting with a cross from Rapinoe's replacement, Christen Press, two minutes later, before the newcomer stamped her mark on proceedings in the best manner possible.

The fun started in the tenth minute when Tobin Heath, who had shown Stokes a clean pair of heels after giving the fullback a head start in just the second minute of play, latched onto the ball and took on two opponents before playing the ball upfield towards Lavelle.

The midfielder's clever dummy allowed Kelley O'Hara - she had a storming game - the run of the right flank to the by-line, from where delivered a gem of a cross to the far post. Flying in to meet it was the unmarked figure of Press, whose towering header flew past Telford into the net to open the scoring.

O'Hara, Heath and Lavelle worked a neat triangle soon afterwards which culminated in the last-mentioned lashing a twenty-yarder narrowly over the bar, to which England responded by scoring with their first attack of the game, in the nineteenth minute.

Keira Walsh spread play wide to Beth Mead, whose inviting angled cross was superbly turned home via the inside of the far post from eight yards by Ellen White, a goal which moved her to the outright lead in the Golden Boot stakes.

She wasn't alone at the top for long - thirteen minutes, to be precise. Seven minutes after the equaliser, Telford parried a Lavelle drive to safety after an O'Hara cross had seen Morgan and Lucy Bronze clash heads.

England responded two minutes later, Bronze's darting run across the top of the penalty area seeing her set up Mead for a great chance, only for the flank player to slip at the vital moment.

The USA's rushed clearance only got as far as Walsh, who delivered a teasing cross into the penalty area. Becky Sauerbrunn's lunging attempt to clear the sphere diverted it narrowly past her own upright, with goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher beaten.

The title-holders came back in the 31st minute, taking the lead again. Abby Dahlkemper switched play to Press on the left. She slipped a pass to Lindsey Horan, whose clipped cross was an invitation for one of her team-mates to score.

Morgan, appropriately on her birthday, took up the chance, nipping in front of Stokes to head home past Telford and restore the USA's lead, which she cheekily celebrated by drinking an imaginary cup of tea … as you do in the heat of a Women's World Cup semi-final!

England looked to hit back immediately, Walsh's twenty-five yarder superbly turned away by Naeher as she flung herself high to her left to make the save. The USA replied in kind, Julie Ertz - a fine game - thrashing one narrowly over from the edge of the area after Heath looked to work a one-two with Lavelle but cleverly dummied the return pass for Ertz to exploit ten minutes before half-time.

Seconds later, a Lavelle cross was headed clear by Bronze after England conceded possession in their

own half of the pitch, soon after which Bright was booked by Brazilian referee Edina Alves Batista - not her best game, something which was to have consequences later in the contest.

That sparked a niggly state of affairs between the sides which continued into the second spell, with plenty of free-kicks being awarded during this period. Only one of them resulted in a goalscoring opportunity, however.

Mead delivered a 49th minute free-kick to the far post, where Bright rose above all-comers to head the ball inside. It rebounded off Ertz straight to White, whose bid to turn the ball home was grabbed by Naeher.

Ten minutes later, England handed their opponents a great chance to extend their lead. Telford gifted possession to Press, but with Heath in space beyond her, the scorer of the first goal looked to beat Bright and curl home a second, only to steer her shot past the far post from the edge of the area.

Telford made amends by grabbing a Heath free-kick when under pressure aplenty soon afterwards, while from the resulting raid, England had the ball in the net again in the 67th minute.

Walsh and Jill Scott teamed up to send White spearing through the middle of the USA's defence, and she confidently slid the ball beyond Naeher and began celebrating the equaliser. But there was a hint of offside about her run, something which the Video Assistant Referee confirmed a moment later - 2-1 to the USA it remained.

Still England pressed, but ten minutes later, Heath was taken out of play and, after treatment, was left standing on the sideline for a full minute by referee Alves Batista before she was allowed to re-enter the fray - the USA bench understandably went bananas at this oversight.

Their mood wasn't aided by events in the 78th minute, with England substitutes Jade Moore and Fran Kirby teaming up before bringing the overlapping Stokes into play on the left. She delivered a cross for White, who went down in the area under the challenge of Sauerbrunn and instantly sought a penalty.

Referee Alves Batista initially waved her appeals away, but the VAR had a different perspective for the official to consider, and some four minutes after the incident - during which time Carli Lloyd came on for Heath to an almighty roar from those present - the penalty was finally awarded.

A further two minutes elapsed before the kick was taken, and given England's recent penalty woes - they've missed two at this tournament already, it was something of a surprise to see captain Steph Houghton taking responsibility for the chance to equalise, especially with White in such prolific form and having been denied both this scoring chance and the offside goal earlier.

Up stepped Houghton, but she couldn't beat Naeher, who plunged to her right to pull off a super save and keep the USA in front. It was a blow from which England never recovered, and to add insult to injury, a nasty tackle by Bright on Morgan two minutes later earned the defender her second booking of the match.

Her departure down the tunnel effectively saw English hopes of a late equaliser disappearing with her, for try as they might, they couldn't muster another chance against the reigning world champions, who controlled the closing minutes of the match in masterly fashion to confirm their place in an unprecedented third successive FIFA Women's World Cup Final in five days' time.

A day earlier, England will look to secure third place in the Finals for the second successive tournament, but they'll look back on this match as they're "nearly but not quite" moment, occasions which Team USA very rarely endure.

Team USA: Naeher; O'Hara (Krieger, 87), Dahlkemper, Sauerbrunn (booked, 83), Dunn; Horan (booked, 47), Ertz, Lavelle (Mewis, 65); Heath (Lloyd, 80), Morgan, Press

England: Telford; Bronze, Houghton, Bright (booked, 40, 86 - sent off), Stokes; Scott, Walsh (Moore, 71), Parris (booked, 90); Daly (Stanway, 89), White, Mead (Kirby, 58)

Referee: Edina Alves Batista (Brazil)

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