Woe Canada! Host falls to England in quarterfinals

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Jodie Taylor and Lucy Bronze scored in the shocking first 14 minutes, and England eliminated Canada from its home World Cup with a 2-1 victory in the quarterfinals Saturday.

The Lionesses overcame a frenzied Canadian crowd at BC Place and a second-half goalkeeper change to secure their nation’s first trip to the semifinals.

England crushed the hopes of a host nation hoping to celebrate Canada’s first World Cup title on this same field next month.

Instead, England will face defending champion Japan in the semifinals in Edmonton, Alberta, on Wednesday — which also happens to be Canada Day.

Christine Sinclair scored in the 42nd minute for Canada, which had given up just one goal in the entire World Cup before giving up two more just three minutes apart.

After Taylor scored the opener on a horrible turnover by Lauren Sesselmann, Bronze added an impressive long header to build a lead that England never relinquished.

Although Sinclair got one back before halftime, Canada struggled to generate many good chances in the waning minutes of the scoreless second half. The drought slowly crushed the crowd of 54,027, most wearing red and supporting their plucky, defense-minded team.

Siobhan Chamberlain replaced England goalie Karen Bardsley early in the second half when Bardsley complained about a problem with her right eye. Chamberlain is on her third World Cup team, but got about 30 seconds to warm up for her first appearance.

JAPAN 1, AUSTRALIA 0:Mana Iwabuchi scored during a scramble in front in the 87th minute and defending champion Japan beat Australia in Edmondton, Alberta.

The goal came after Japan spent much of the second half generating a majority of the pressure in the Australian end. Aya Miyama’s corner kick from the left corner was blocked in the penalty area, but the ball bounced directly to Azusa Iwashimizu, who got off a hard shot at the net.

The shot was blocked by goalkeeper Lydia Williams, and the ball squirted to the left, where Iwabuchi kicked it into the open side. Iwabuchi had fresh legs after subbing in at the 72nd minute in place of Shinobu Ohno.